My Destiny, My Fervent Plea
by webidolchiu94
Summary: A girl appears on the doorstep of Soul and Maka's apartment. Who is she, what is she, and why was she trying to make it to Shibusen? Not even she knows. While they learn of this new girl, they find her past seems more tragic than any of theirs combined.
1. Table of Contents

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater in any way. All characters are not mine except those you do not recognise, in which case they probably are OCs and you will probably hate them, but who cares now? If I owned Soul Eater they'd most definitely be in the series. **

**A slight overview of what I plan to write, my little darlings. I love all of you who like my writings, so review please. And remember: It's a dream of mine for this to be a dounjishi! So that's all I want for Christmas, considering my parents don't even celebrate it! T.T But don't feel sorry children (and adults who read this), because I write for only your adoration (and reviews).**

* * *

Prologue

Chapter 1: "Save me"- A dying soul's call for help?

Chapter 2: Let's Go- A New Challenger On Stage?

Chapter 3: Replay That Wavelength- A broken past emerges?

Chapter 4: Medusa's Rat- Just another test subject?

Chapter 5: An Injured Soul- Both Meister and Weapon In One?

Chapter 6: Duel Arts Lesson! - The converging wavelength of four souls?

Chapter 7: Make the Grade- The Super Written Exam (again?)

Chapter 8: Selenic Soul? - Sarah's electric guitar debut

Chapter 9: Going Dancing- A Halloween Reunion to Remember?

Chapter 10: Helping Hiro- "She has a kind wavelength.."

Chapter 11: Fight the tears…-The solo becomes a duet?

Chapter 12: Maka's Capture- (Kid-kun to the rescue?)

Chapter 13: The Purple Blood Boils- Crona's not alone?

Chapter 14: Kill the noise- Embrace the Demon-Hunter!

Chapter 15: Battle for the Brew (Part One)- Accidental New Plan

Chapter 16: Battle for the Brew (Part Two)- Faith

Chapter 17: Recuperate- Try and get well!

Chapter 18: The Cards are Cut- Medusa's Surrender to the DWMA?

Chapter 19: Baba Yaga's Castle (Part one)- The Strings of Insanity

Chapter 20: Baba Yaga's Castle (Part two)- Puppet No Longer

Chapter 21: Baba Yaga's Castle (Part three)- Outside the Loop

Chapter 22: Baba Yaga's Castle (Part four)- "Paper Moon" is _our song_

Chapter 23: Escaping it all- Symmetry, Clowns, and a Surprise from the cousins?

Chapter 24: My Dream- We're both Angels, right?

Epilogue- Regret and Torture?


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I see you've noticed that I'ev updated/revised this Mary Sue Fic! Well, yeah, so enjoy it now, because I'm rehauling the whole fic so it makes more sense, and is less annoying. GO TEAM SOUL EATER!**

PROLOGUE: A Slightly Different World

_Click. Click. Click._

The metronome sways. It teeters slowly, back and forth like a rocking chair, without a hesitation or misstep. My heart fails to follow the simple rhythm, skipping a beat now and then.

Refusing to keep up.

Refusing life altogether.

Legs straining against the message screaming from my brain. Unresponsive to its warnings against running any further. But why I should stop is irrelevant. I knew I should have gone to the school first, but something was pulling me. My heart was stuttering, threatening to give out on me if I didn't follow the unknown call.

After so long, who would blame it? Right now I could barely remember what it was that I was supposed to do. What was my mission? What year was it? Why did any of it matter anyway? I was warm and that's all that mattered. It was dark, but I'd seen darker. **Much** darker. The true evil dwelling within a witch's heart for example.

It was strange, and relieving, to feel my thoughts slowly draining away. Like sludge down a kitchen sink. Only an hour ago that blast of pink light had scorched my mind, leving the peices to retreat into the same darkness whence I had escaped.

It was fading now, the three numbers I had searched for. 283. The numbers I recognized from the file she had given me. Thinking over it a moment, who _was _**she** in the first place? At this point it didn't matter because finally, I was here. But just as soon as I arrived my will weakened, my eyesight becoming blurry, and my body collapsed on the steps of the apartment.

After a time, that familiar feeling of drowning fills my lungs. Only now, with my eyes still shut, do I realize that while I was unconscious it had begun to rain. My face had been sitting in a gathering puddle for a while. Adding to this, the gash on the back of my head aches something fierce, as if it couldn't let me forget its presence. And then I simply forget.

**The metronome speeds up.**

I panic, not remembering how I got here.

Where was I? Dead? I wish I was that lucky. But why do I wish that? My neck hurts, my head throbs, and my back…it's burning. My entire body feels locked up, as if I were paralyzed by something more than the fear that is spilling over into my thoughts. My eyes refuse to open, they simply can't. Why couldn't I open my eyes?

All of the sounds around me are drowned out by the constant static of the rain. Except for a voice. Voices, actually.

Could others see me? Where was I?

**Who **was I?

"Soul! Come over here!" A girl's voice cut through the rain. Shock clearly conveyed by the sudden shrillness of her voice.

Another concerned voice, deeper than the first.

"What is it Maka?" A boy was there also.

**The metronome slows.**

It sounded as if they had found me. My eyes... had to see where I was. Slowly, but too slowly for my own liking, they opened.

The metronome nearly stops. Time seems to have stopped, unthawing only when I blink away the tears. I don't recall the last time I'd ever seen such a look in a persons eyes. Ruby red eyes that were gazing down at me with unfathomable pity. It was now, as I looked upwards, that I saw the boy I had heard before when my eyes were closed to all. It was hard to see, and no wonder, my eyelids were so swollen I could barely even move my eyes.

"Is she okay?" asked the girl I assumed was Maka. "There's so much blood."

_ Blood?_ It was disorienting, sitting there. But I indeed looked down and found that I could at least move my fingers. They were sticky, and caked with something. Yes, it appeared to be blood. Blood, blood everywhere. My back burned, wherever my own blood seemed to touch me it felt as if it was on fire. Involuntarily I shuddered in the cold, rainy night. Under this small overhang of the entrance to the building, there were few dry spots, I knew. The small space ground not wetted by rain was marred by blood, and in this weak light it seemed obsidian.

A lightning bolt seemed to have passed though my being as the pain suddenly began to register with my consciousness. "My back!" I yelled, slumping to my side. From my spot on the ground I could barely see the blood smeared against the bricks of the wall where I had been propped. And then the world spins, turning on it's head.

...

"Soul, look." Maka pointed to the long, jagged slash sunk into the girl's back. "She's breathing, right?" After a quick examination he nodded.

"Yeah, but she's still bleeding, too." Soul frowned. "Maka. Go get help, now!"

"Right." She ran off, leaving Soul and the girl behind.

"Soul?" said the girl confused. He laid a hand on her head, which was matted with damp curls. Feverish. He knew that this wasn't a good sign, but he hoped she'd pull through this, and quickly took off his leather jacket.

"It's okay, you're safe now." He assured her even though he didn't be lieve it him self. If she was to die, let it at least be with some hope.

Soul. That was such a familiar name.

"We'll help you," he said, gingerly wrapping her in the jacket.

_You're going to save me?_ she thought. Her thoughts were muddied by the crippling pain.

"Help?" rasped the girl. Her tears, they burned also as they gathered at the corners of her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," he promised.

_You're going to save me?_

_ You're going to save me?_

_ You're going to save me from my destiny._

"Save me."

/ / /

Chapter One: "Save me"- A dying soul's call for help?

What was it that she saw first? If you asked her, she would say: "Silver hair." Soul was fast asleep in the wooden chair next to the medical cot. A faint breeze wafted in through the open windows. Above them a small fan circulated, mixing the stale and fresh air somewhat.

What was it that she heard first? It was hard to tell, between the heart monitor, and Soul's even snores.

"You're awake." This new voice startled her, it wasn't Soul. The sudden noise had stirred fear within her heart and so she whimpered. "That's good," continued the old Meister. "I may like dissection, but I prefer live patients to autopsies." The gray-haired doctor smiled at her. "How are you feeling?"

She whimpered in answer.

What was it that she smelled first? The sickening, tangy smell of anti septic; and then there was that doctor in a lab coat. There was no mistaking it, she was in a hospital, the worst possible place she could be.

"Sc-scary," muttered the girl, half to herself.

It was this word Stein picked up on. "Scary?" he asked. The adjective could frequently be used to describe him.

"S-scared," she eventually stammered out, giving him a fearful look with her large brown eyes.

Okay, now he understood. That blow to her head had messed up some things, didn't it? Stein looked over her chart once more taking in the scanty information they had collected on the visitor.

"You have no need to be scared of me," he assured her, even though it was a complete lie. "I fixed up your back and your head." He pointed to the bandages now surrounding her skull and arms. "Granted, there was a lot of blood loss, and a few stitches were in order, but you're **extremely** lucky that you survived the operation. Even more than Soul Eater there. He's one of the few that has survived my operations, and surprisingly you are another survivor."

At the sound of his name, Soul began to wake up. "Wa? Huh? Someone—," he yawned, "callin' me?" He looked over to the girl. "Oh. You're awake. Feeling okay?"

Stein cleared his throat and spoke up. "I'm afraid the blunt force trauma to her skull may have given her a concussion...in along with a minor case of brain damage." Stein looked over the chart in his hands. "She can hardly speak."

"Really now?" he looked over to the girl. "I'm Soul Eater Evans, but just call me 'Soul'. It's cooler that way. What's your name?" He gave his classic smile, showing all of his jagged teeth.

"Soul," echoed the girl shyly. A light blush spread across her tan cheeks. "Soul Eater." She giggled. Her heart monitor beeped faster. Evans? That name was familiar.

"It seems she likes you, Soul," teased the older man. However tears welled up in her big oval eyes when she noticed Dr. Stein once again.

"Scary-ed, scared!" she cried, clutching Soul's arm. "Scary doctor." But when she saw that she was grabbing Soul, she shrunk back, unsure of whether it was okay if she touched him.

Somehow, Soul immediately understood the apprehension.

"I don't think she likes doctors much," he announced. She nodded slowly, her fist in front of her eyes. "Maybe you should take off your lab coat, " he suggested to the older man.

Stein reluctantly shrugged off the white coat. "Better?" he droned. Professor Stein never liked to go anywhere without it, and it was a shame that she was uncooperative when she was frightened so easily.

Very cautiously Soul removed her fist from in front her face. "Hey, is this any better?"

She stopped crying and nodded. "Like." She said pointing to Stein. "Cute now,"the girl muttered, looking down in a bit of embarrassment at the declaration.

"He's cute now, huh?" Soul cracked up, chuckling at the thought of someone thinking Stein was _cute_.

"Like glasses," she added. "No smoke should?" She signaled to throw away the cigarette.

At her later comment, Soul smirked. "She's calling you out on your smoking already. Brain damage, my ass!" He threw in a little chuckle.

With a scowl, Stein put out his cigarette but secretly saved some of it in his pocket for later.

A while after, maybe five minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Stein. To Soul's surprise, Maka, Crona, and Black*Star filed in.

"What're you guys doing here?" Soul asked them.

"I told them," said Maka. "And I thought it would be a good idea to check on...uh...well we don't exactly know your name, do we?" she asked the girl awkwardly, grinning with nervous excitement.

"Is this the girl?" said Black*Star, rubbing his nose with his finger. He snorted. "At least she's not as flat as Maka."

"What was that?" Maka whipped around and lodged a book in the middle of his spiky head.

"Um, I said that a big star like me doesn't care if you're flat as a board." There was another direct hit with the Maka-chop, succeeded by another.

'Criti cal hit! His HP is getting low! BLACK*STAR cannot be recalled right now!'

"I-I'm sorry! Don't hit me anymore!" He pleaded with folded hands.

"I accept your apology, Black*Star."

The girl giggled. "Funny," she said in a small voice.

"Oh, she talked!" said Black*Star.

"Loud boy. Black*Star?" she pointed to the brash ninja-boy, looking at Maka all the while.

Black*Star crossed his arms. "She talks weird."

"Brain damage," protested the girl, but not too loudly. "Concussion." She looked at Soul. "Soul help." Then her eyes moved on to Maka. "Maka too... Thanks!"

The whole crew smiled. Crona moved his face from behind Maka to have a look at the new-found friend. His dark blue eyes stared at the girl intently; for some reason she looked very familiar.

"I'm C-c-crona. What's your name?" whispered the tall boy. Recently, Maka had been instructing him on how to be more social, and it was paying off. Now he could even ask simple questions like that to people he just met.

Immediately she frowned. Her name? It was fuzzy in her mind. Of course, it was one of the few things anyone couldn't forget, albeit the words formed with a bit of effort.

"Sa~," she said slowly. "Hmmm," her brow crinkled. "Sar~a, Sa~ra, Sarah." She her first name at least.

"Sarah? Th-that's a pretty name." Crona smiled and blushed. Sarah couldn't help but smile back; the lavender-haired swordsman was so adorable when he was embarrassed.

"Sarah, it it? What were you doing there?" asked Maka, who wanted to know the specifics right away. "Who did that to you?" As to why Sarah had been half-dead when they found her, that was the thing she wanted to know the most.

Memories flashed by in painful aches, and Sarah's eyes moved to her lap. When she finally spoke her voice was a whisper.

"B-b-bad. Bad people." She managed through the tears, looking at her hands. They were bandaged thoroughly, and she clenched them tightly. The stains on them were red—for now.

"How'd you end up all cut up like that? What did they do? " asked Soul. It was only a second later that he wished he hadn't.

"Scythe," she whispered.

The metronome, the metronome.

Her heart monitor went insane, emitting short, erratic beeps.

Sarah's mind snapped as if she had black blood flowing in her veins. Her speech suddenly improved for some reason, shallow breaths escaping her mouth along with the frightened words ambling out. "They hunted me down!" she yelled, scrambling frantically to get up, her eyes immersed in another time completely. "Chased me! I wanted to go, to leave, but that man sent them, weapons!" A hand was set on her shoulder, but she was still in another place. "Leave me alone!" Her eyes widened in the expectation of a blow. "A Scythe.." she whispered before her voice rose again. "I was trying to run I, I—," Sarah gripped her face so hard her nails dug into her face so that it bled. From her mouth she emitted a shriek so loud it sounded like Ragnarök's Scream Resonance. Everyone covered their ears. Despite the agonizing shriek, Soul somehow grabbed her stiff shoulders. Sarah needed to calm down, and quickly.

"Sarah!" Soul yelled as he shook her. "Sarah, snap out of it!" Obediently her eyes suddenly sprang open, but they seemed pupil-less, blank, dead. "Sa rah?" Her heart monitor suddenly flat-lined, the long beep filling the room with panic.

Stein jumped into action, realizing that there was no time for them to bring in the equipment. Would his soul-wavelength be enough to restart her heart? It was worth a try.

"I need someone to do the rescue breaths Soul stay here," he swiftly relayed the orders to the kids. "Stand clear!" Everyone shuffled back a few feet. "Soul," Stein beckoned to the white-haired teen, who was at once at his side. "Match my wavelength so you don't get hurt."

"Right," said Soul, understanding while he adjusted his wavelength as instructed.

"Now!" alerted the doctor. Bright yellow sparks flowed into her chest and disap peared. Soul pressed his lips against Sarah's. They were frozen. "Again!" More sparks, more breaths.

Wake up, damn it! Wake up; don't give up.

…

Sarah woke up to the sound of her heart beat on the monitor, with Soul staring down into her eyes. It was already the next morning; she'd been asleep for at least another day.

"You made it," sighed the older boy as he relaxed his tense shoulders. His clothes were different, but he looked ragged, as if he'd been awake for hours.

"S-soul." Surprised that she even remembered his name, Sarah sat up slowly, wincing as she brought her hand lightly over her face in confusion. "What happened?"

"Seriously, you don't remember?" He thought back to her little episode. "Maybe it's best you forget. You're still weak so don't strain yourself. Sarah, you should lie back down."

Sarah gasped, clutching the sheets.

.Sa.

"Sarah, you should lie down," the man in the lab coat crept ever forward with the hollow syringe.

"Some more blood is needed for the tests." He said this matter-o-factly, as if what he was doing was justified.

"…" Sitting on the cot, I glared at him and pressed my back to the cold cement wall. Slowly, uncertainly, I shook my head, no more blood, no more purple stains on my hands. "No."

"What is that?" he smiled, yet I knew of the cruelty beneath that innocent exterior. "Is that, Free Will? Sarah," it was disgusting how he could say my name so kindly, "Do you want to lose your soul? I could take that away from you…among other things." It was then he grabbed my arm by force, pulling the glinting steel needle closer and closer.

My heartbeat was in my ears, my head rang, and the last thing I remember was: Blood. When I came to, a red orb had already floated down in front of me. With short inspection I realized it was his soul. Blood was spattered every where like in some twisted crime novel, and my heart stuttered at such an uneasy yet familiar sight. Sobbing quietly to myself, I hid in the corner, scrunched into a ball; I knew they were going to punish me. They always punish me.

I'd killed someone—again.

…

"No." Sarah's face was dour as she dropped her hands from her mass of hair and stopped gripping the thin material covering her legs. "I don't want to lie down," she said, without a trace of emotion.

Soul nodded, understanding. "S'okay, you don't have to." He sat on the edge of the bed cautiously, with his hands in his pockets. _She said a scythe had hurt her,_he thought.

"W-where am I?" asked Sarah, she looked around, taking in her surroundings, trying to memorize each and every thing that she saw.

"Hm? Oh at the DWMA." Soul watched her slow, confused movements as she shifted around on the bed. Her eyes then uncertainly flickered to his face and Soul felt in credibly vulnerable when he was under her gaze.

"Death-weapon-miester-academy? **That** DWMA?" her voice was light, clear, and song-like, but still hoarse-sounding, as if she was unaccustomed to speaking. Or rather, she screamed quite a lot.

"Is there any other?"

"I was trying to get here—I think. I'm not sure I remember too well. I was running so fast, and then…" her words dropped off at that point.

He gave her a long, strange look before nodding slowly. "Were you try ing to enroll?"

Sarah's voice sounded a bit stressed baffled even. "I don't know. Maybe. There was a reason I tried to escape her though." Her brow was crinkled in that same way as yesterday.

"Escape?" Soul raised an eyebrow. Color blossomed over her tan cheeks, but it was unnoticed by Soul because of her dark complexion.

"Did I say_ escape_? Maybe I was. Have you ever tried to—"Suddenly she stopped talking, her face went blank, and she felt her eyes wouldn't stop staring into Soul's own. She couldn't stop. He felt unnerved that those incredibly brown eyes peered into him. Soul, felt something was…wandering inside his mind, floating around, scurrying. Searching.

.So.

"_Come on," said the little devil. "I can give you power."_

"_Soul, you jerk!" screamed Maka, "I wish you all would just die!"_

"_Say eight, damn it!" yelled Kid._

"_I beat a Grimm Reaper!" Black*Star laughed._

"_So you're a weapon, huh?" Wes asked. "Does this mean you're leav ing?"_

…

All of the emotions and images associated with the various memories floated by, and Soul was left unusually calm. "What was that?" asked Soul af ter the strange moment had passed.

Sarah held her head in her arms, the sudden download of information had given her a slight migraine. "Augh, my head. I don't know, but...Somehow I know you've had it rough."

"What are you talking about?" He was damned if she knew anything about his life at all! "You keep saying you don't know stuff, and then you go all cryptic on me."

Risking soundling insane, she told him."I think—I may have accidentally peeked into your mind."

At this Soul just had to laugh.

"I'm serious!" insisted Sarah, some energy surging through her now, as her face was tinged with pink once again. "You play piano, right?"

"You could have asked anyone that."

"You like to eat tons of food."

"Maka complains about that all the time," responded Soul, eyes closed innocently.

Sarah dug deeper into the few memories she had gleaned. "How," she ventured carefully, "would I know about Blair, then?"

Now Soul felt flushed. He looked askance and tried to play it down. "S-same thing," he stammered. "Maka told you."

Sarah sighed, wondering how Maka had told her, when she's just recovered from who-knows-what and hadn't seen the perky little scythemeister since her panic attack.

She turned to the side of the bed opposite the open windows, and tried to get up to stretch.

Big mistake. She was dressed in one of those hospital gowns, since her clothes had been ruined by the blood and rain. It just so happened that a strong gust of wind blasted through the windows and exposed her bare buttocks, nature is pretty perverted that way. Not only that, but the scar from her recent operation could be seen on her back, extending from her left shoulder to her right hip.

Suddenly Soul could feel all of the blood in his body rush to his face, creating a strong possibility of a nosebleed. But it never happened, he just turned _**really**_ red.

However, Sarah hardly flinched. She turned around, took one look at Soul, and laughed.

"Your face is as red as your eyes," said Sarah, pointing to Soul shyly.

"Yeah, well, um…Maka left you some clothes if you needed any." _Which you do_.He picked up the little blue bag with one hand and handed it to her gently.

"Thank you."

_Her smile is __**sort of**__ cool,_thought Soul as she accepted the present.

…

He excused himself to give her some privacy, and when he left the room he saw Stein leaning on the wall outside the Infirmary's door.

"Hey," said Soul. But Stein didn't hear him, as the professor was deep in thought and staring at the chart in his hands intently. It wasn't long for Soul to spot what Stein was concentrating on. "This her chart?" he asked the man, louder this time. Soul laid a finger on the photo displayed next to the ID number. "She doesn't look like that _now,_" he said while examining it further.

In fact, it looked as if it were a much older picture of the girl, because Sarah looked significantly younger. Her small face was smiling, one front tooth missing. The usual, carefree child's photo, comlete with hobo teeth.

Stein lifted the chart out of his view. "Yes, I had to have this chart sent in after I reported that you had found someone. Lord Death recognized her, of course."

"Like, personally?" pried Soul. It wouldn't be too surprising, actually. More shocking things have happened.

"Maybe," said Stein, turning away to walk off. "But have work to do, so if you'll excuse me, Soul? There are things I have to figure out."

"Uh, sure professor." Soul watched him walk away. "Wait, who'll watch Sarah?"

"You could," Stein said before turning the corner. Before Soul could interject, the Meister added: "Of course, that is if you're willing to miss class again."

You didn't have to tell that Weapon twice, he kept his mouth shut. Missing class to watch some girl, now that was a sweet deal. Of course, he didn't know at the time how strange this girl really was, but Soul had a feeling he was going to find out soon.


	3. Chapter 2

_**So, Sarah, what do you like best?**_

**Sa**: Well, I like manga, anime, fan-fiction, and reviewing fan-fiction, Oh! And musi—

_**You like reviewing fan-fiction?**_

**Sa: **Yeah, and Yaoi.

**Ma: **I like sing—

**_No one cares what _you _like Maka!_**

**Ma: **(quietly) But, I…

**So: **I still don't get it, what the heck is Yaoi?

**Sa: **It's b—

_**You don't need to know Soul.**_

**So: **But—

**Ma: **If the narrator says you don't need to know, you don't need to know, Soul!

_**Calm down, Maka, and let's get on with the fan-fiction**._

**Ma: **Fine… ahem (puts on a serious tone) A sound soul, dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body.

. . .

Chapter 2: Let's Go- A New Challenger On stage?

When she was finished dressing, Sarah stepped out of the room hesitant. Much to Soul's surprise, she was dressed very similar to his Meister. She wore a long, white-sleeved shirt, with yellow sweater-vest, and short red plaid skirt. Even her curly hair had been combed to resemble the scythe-Meister's signature pigtails.

"Soul, can I see the school?" She sounded a bit calmer now than before.

_What __the heck?_ thought Soul. _Why not?_

It wasn't anywhere near time for school to start anyway.

He decided to start out small, so he wouldn't overwhelm the girl. But where to go first? Soul leaned continued to lean against the wall to think. It was only after a minute of thinking with his eyes shut that he realized Sarah was gone.

_Geez,_ he thought bitterly. _Talk about impatient._ He surveyed the now empty space around him. _It's like looking after a little kid! _

Irritated, Soul walked down the hallway in search for her. Luckily, he found the girl standing in front of a vending machine near the corner of a corridor branching off the main hallway. A finger was on her lips in question.

"There you are," said Soul, laying a hand on her shoulder.

Immediately she flinched. "EEe!" she shrieked, before giving him a wide stare.

He blinked once, taking in her startled face. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"S-sorry for leaving." She looked down to her feet, hanging her head in shame.

"It's okay, really."

Sarah pointed to the machine in front of the two. "What's this?"

"What?" said Soul. "This?" That had to be the funniest thing he'd heard in a while. She had to be joking. Everyone knew what a vending machine was. Soul expected her to burst out in laughter, but astonishingly, he was met with an expectant look from his new, er, "charge".

Sighing, Soul answered. "This is a vending machine."

"What's it do?"

_Seriously? _This kid was a test of patience for sure. Reaching into his wallet, Soul pulled out one Deathnote and placed it in her hand. "Here."

Helplessly, Sarah stared at it like money was something new to her. Which it was, considering everything that Soul and the others had yet to quickly realize. But in any case the girl looked like she was on the verge of tears.

_For the love of_…

Literally, Soul had to take her hand holding the dollar and guide it to insert the money into the machine.

"Then, you push the button for the snack you want," he explained.

After a very long moment of deciding, Sarah pressed a button and out popped a strawberry toaster strudel wrapped in cellophane.

A minute after that little misadventure, the two arrived at a small playground. Soul had decided it was the best possible place to go, considering her nearly unbearable naïveté. In their pilgrimage there she had eaten the pastry and thanked Soul repeatedly.

It wasn't for very long that they stayed, only maybe half an hour. Enough time for her to examine most of the playground equipment while Soul sat on a bench and watched with some amusement as she nearly strangled herself with the swing set.

. . .

Remarkably, Soul had decided to bring her to class for the rest of the day. They arrived approximately five minutes before the bell, effectively meeting the others at their seats. The last new student to arrive after Crona of course, had to be Shadow, and neither Meisters were very talkative. Crona would usually whisper a meek answer, while Shadow herself would narrow her eyes and refuse to talk to anyone but Maka or Soul.

Tsubaki gave Sarah a small humble smile.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Sarah gave that same blank look she had given Soul earlier.

"Would I not be okay for some reason?" Sarah replied.

"Well, you kind of d—" Soul gave Tsubaki a please-don't-mention-it look. The Weapon shrugged, shaking her head. "Oh it's nothing, really."

Tsubaki discreetly passed it on to Black*Star that yesterday's account was to not be retold. He willingly obliged. Besides, that day he wasn't the star anyway.

Class started then, with a slow clanging signaling its beginning. However, about thirty seconds anterior to the bell, everyone's favorite bookworm slammed open the door, causing the entire classroom to stare at her.

She was panting, and beads of sweat were gathered on her forehead.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Stein," said Maka, out of breath by far.

He looked up from the puppy's corpse towards her; both hands armed with glinting scalpels. All the dog-lovers in the student body were weeping profusely. Dissection at usual for the daily lesson, then there was going to be a quiz on Advanced Soul Techniques.

"Maka?" Stein seemed genuinely confused. His eyes traveled to where Soul was seated next to Sarah and the rest of the crew. "I thought you were already in class."

Sarah raised her hand. "No, that's just me!" She sat with her hands in her lap, looking at Stein intently.

"Oh, Sarah-chan, you've recovered already? That was fast." He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but why are you dressed like Maka?"

"I-It's a long story," replied Sarah, without a trace of pathos. "I'm not a fan of long stories, not really my style, y'know?"

Stein shrugged. "I was just wondering what you were doing here; you were critical just the other day. Oh well," he sighed, and turned back to his other subject on the examination table, a cowering white mouse. Maka moved her seat from in between Soul and Sarah, to Sarah's left.

"So Maka-sama," Sarah started, "Good morning, how are you?"

With a scowl, Maka replied. "I'm a bit angry with Soul, but otherwise fine."

"Angry at me?" He turned to Maka, but his Meister looked away when he did. "Why?"

"Tell him that _someone_ should have left a note, or at least woken me up earlier." Maka let out an angry huff. "I had no transportation."

Soul frowned, confused as to why there was a miscommunication.

"Didn't you get my text?"

Maka curtly flipped open her magenta phone.

"_Wnt 2 Shbsn 2 C Srh, To-k bke C U L8r K? - Soul," w_as what it read.

"Tell mister Soul Eater that he knows very damn well that I don't understand his cryptic text messages. Thanks to _him,_ I had to _run_ the entire way." She turned her attention to the windows today, rather than wanting to see Stein disembowel another innocent animal. Sarah, however, looked down on the scene of gore with a strange fascination.

Thankfully, by the end of the period Maka forgave Soul completely, much thanks to his own pitiful begging.

. . .

By the time lunch lazily rolled around, everyone was starving so they made their way to the lunch line eagerly. Picking up a beige tray from the island, Sarah stepped towards the salad bar.

_Hm, nothing really good, _she thought. But she picked up a couple of slices of red onion and tomato. Soul silently slipped beside her.

"Is that all you're gonna eat?" he asked; his tray was already full. Sarah made her way to another food station, and he followed. She shook her head, and the pigtails swayed.

"Definitely not. I'm _starving_" She went over to another station and picked up a box of fries, a cheeseburger, and chocolate pudding. Sarah paused at the fruit. Maka moved next to the pair.

"Hey, guys." Curious, she surveyed the spread. "Looks good." A purplish fruit caught her eye, and she grabbed it. "I love passion fruit."

"Funny," said Soul, slightly amused. His grin was stretched out wide. "You're not a very passionate person when it comes to—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," warned Maka. "I know what's going on in your little teenage boy head, Soul."

"You probably do…" he replied. Maka hadn't heard him.

"I know full-well that it's sometimes used as an aphrodisiac." Pause. "Emphasis on sometimes." She blushed. Soul rolled his eyes for the millionth time.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," replied Sarah nonchalantly. She spooned several strawberries onto her plate. "These are my favorites, I think."

"You think? You still have amnesia?" Maka asked.

"I'm just not sure I remember." She picked up a banana. "This too. Why do you think you like passion fruit, Maka?"

Maka was taken aback. "Huh? Oh well because it's sweet, but also tart at the same time."

"Just like your personality…" said Soul snarkily from the corner of his mouth.

"Sh-sh-shut up, Soul!" said Maka, swinging a textbook at him.

Sarah tried to stifle a giggle with little success. "Well, I guess I like strawberries 'cause they remind me of someone, bananas too."

"Oh, who?" Soul asked. She glanced at his eyes then looked away.

"Yeah, who is it?" asked Maka.

"I-i-it's a secret, but I'll tell you." Sarah leaned in close to whisper in her ear. A question mark floated by Soul's head. "Well, strawberries are red, just like the color of Soul's eyes. And bananas for Kid's eyes likewise."

"O~h," Maka had seen the way Sarah stared at both of them during class. How, when Maka caught her, she'd pretend that she was gazing out the window.

Maka looked towards Soul. "Gyahaha!"

"What's so funny?" asked Soul and Sarah.

"Nothing," she sighed in between her giggles. "So Sarah, just out of mere curiosity, which fruit do you _prefer_?"

She smiled brightly and stuck out her tongue playfully. "Isn't it obvious? Strawberries, of course."

Not much later they spied a table and sat down, with the rest of their friends joining them.

"Hey, guys," said Kid. "It's good to see you're up and about Sarah-san." He gave a flirtatious smile.

Sarah reddened considerably. "Um, thank you." Then she quickly stood and bowed her head. "The honorable son of Lord Death shouldn't be polite to one such as I!" Her voice shook considerably from nervousness and attraction. Or was it the nervousness of attraction?

He held up his hands. "Please sit down; it's not that big of a deal, really."

"He's only being polite 'cause he thinks you're really hot." Liz interrupted.

"Yeah 'cause you're perfectly symmetrical, down to your boobs." Patty added.

Kid blushed a bright red, his yellow eyes wild.

"H-ho-how'd you—!" he stuttered.

"We saw you write it in your diary during class," Liz answered with a grin. "Seriously, Kid, if you want to keep something private, _don't_ write it on steno pad, even if it is more symmetrical." She held up the pitch black diary for display. Underneath the metal spirals holding it together were three white lines going across all the way. Small white skulls were on the two bottom corners.

"Hey, give it back!" whined Kid on the brink of tears. "Don't tell them anymore!"

Liz cruelly flipped to a random page while Patty held him down.

"It's a _journal_ not a—,"

"_Dear Dia_ry," read Liz. "_I feel really depressed today; my life is spiraling into a black abyss, grabbing hold of me, suffocating me. I couldn't get any people to invite T.M Revolution and Abingdon Boys School to Death City. It sucks because they play all of my favorite songs, like _Resonance,_ and_—"

_Boring, _Liz thought, rolling her eyes as she flipped to another page. "OOOooo," she said, boldly skimming the contents:

"Dear_ Diary," _Liz began again, this time imitating Kid's voice too. "_Today, for some reason I feel completely and utterly confused. This morning I was strolling out of my bedroom when I saw Crona. He was walking out of the bathroom, he had just come from the shower, and he only wore a towel around his small frame, covering even his chest. (He's really self-conscious isn't he?) Anyways, Crona blushed when he caught me staring. I looked away the second he did. I don't even know why I was staring in the first place! Me! Death the Kid! I'm NOT gay, am I? But that can't be right, I mean, I like Maka don't I? She's real cute… Oh well, I feel like reading Catcher in the Rye, I'm so depressed and confused."_

Crona was light pink, as was Kid. Most everyone was shocked, except for Patty. With a huge squeal she hugged Kid so suddenly he was too stunned to do anything but blush and smile foolishly.

"So~ kawaii! Shonen-Ai!" she exclaimed.

"Yaoi fans forever!" yelled Liz, putting down the journal. Kid snatched it away quickly, muttering.

Patty nodded happily, arms still around a smiling Kid. They exchanged "squees" and "kawaiis" until they were satisfied and sank back into their own seats.

"I don't get it," Soul whispered to Maka. "What's 'Yaoi' and 'Shonen-Ai'?"

Maka almost choked on the apple juice she'd been drinking. What? Why was he asking _her_? She wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

"You don't want to know, Soul," she commented calmly.

"But wh—," Maka gave him a severe sideways glare.

"You don't," she asserted coldly. Tsubaki and Maka exchanged a knowing glance in secret. _They_ preferred to keep their statuses as Yaoi fan-girls safely hidden from their partners. Maka secretly smiled at the collaborative dounjishi she and Tsubaki had drawn of Soul and Black*Star. If Soul found it, he'd go ballistic, but surely he wouldn't unless he found himself rummaging around in Maka's underwear drawer.

When the bell their trays were vacant and it was time to leave.

"Want me to pick those up for you?" asked Soul to the girls.

"Thanks," Maka said.

"Thank you," Sarah said quietly.

"It's nothing," he shrugged while picking up the trays and placing them in the return. It was only until Soul joined them, when they all were walking away from lunch, that Black*Star asked his first intelligent question toward Sarah.

"So, Sarah, you have any place to stay?"

"She could most likely stay with us, right?" Kid asked hopefully.

"I mean, it's OK with us," Liz confirmed. "We have plenty of room."

"Yeah," said Patty. "Crona's Noooo problem, so you'd probably not be either!"

"Hey!" protested Maka. "Wait just a sec! I mean, that's not fair at all! Crona-kun already _lives_ with you guys, so I think it's only fair that Sarah-chan should stay with us, right Soul?"

He grunted. "Why're you asking me? Go ahead, you never asked me if _Blair_ could stay, and there _she_ was!"

Maka ignored his complaints and began pulling Sarah along.

"C'mon Sarah-chan! We've got an extra bedroom since Blair moved in with her new boyfriend, Ikuto."

_Thank, Shinigami._ "Don't worry about clothes. Today after school we can buy some cute ones."

"You mean like yours and Soul's?"

"Sure, why not?"

. . .

At the exact same moment, Death Scythe happened to be walking past the group in the hallway. Immediately he stopped in his tracks and turned around. From the corner of his sea blue eye, Spirit noticed a familiar bright yellow sweater-vest, and vivid red skirt. He subconsciously wagged his happy, invisible puppy tail.

"My Maka!" he joyously exclaimed, blindly hugging Sarah. "You know Papa loves you!" Sarah glared at him, her eyes daggers. Spirit paused his snuggling. "Hmm?" he said confused. Spirit had suddenly noticed Sarah's glare.

"Get. Off." Her voice was so icy he froze.

"M-M-Maka, when did you dye your hair?" He looked her over again in confusion. "When did you get a tan?"

Sarah continued to stare, evil burning in her eyes.

Now he began to shake. "And get brown contacts?"

"I'm over here," Maka signaled, to Sarah's left. Spirit nearly fainted.

"Your soul looks really familiar," commented Sarah. In truth, she was more annoyed that some random guy was hugging her.

"You can see souls too?" everyone said in unison.

"Well, uh..." Sarah scratched her head, replaying what she just said. Sometimes, a memory would leak through unannounced and float into her conscious mind. She thought for a moment then turned on Spirit, now actively peering into his soul. "I think I know you…." Sarah chewed her lower lip in thought.

Spirit rubbed his chin with his thumb. "Yeah, likewise."

Then it hit him. No seriously, it hit him. Stein came rolling out of a classroom on his office chair and smacked him in the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper before disappearing down the hall and around the corner. Yes, it's amazing how well he can steer a chair.

Spirit seriously had forgotten all about the chart that Stein had showed him earlier this morning.

"You're Chad's little daughter, Sarah," he replied weakly. It was only when Sprit said her father's name that something changed in her eyes. Was it, realization?

"Uncle Spirit?" she murmured. Then, anger. "Uncle Spirit." She affirmed disapprovingly, frowning. "Maka, could you use your book for a sec?"

"Sure," replied Maka, smiling malevolently, holding her a Japanese-English dictionary.

"_Maka __**Chop**_!" yelled Maka, nailing Death Scythe in the middle of his cardinal red hair.

"I remember now," said Sarah, flames of anime-drama surrounding her. "_You're _the reason papa was always late coming home. You and your **damned** cabaret clubs!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, rubbing his aching head.

"Is that all you can say?"

"Geez, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he repeated frantically, not like it helped to calm her down any. Sarah stood with her fists clenched, a shadow over her features.

"Papa," said Maka darkly, "You know Sarah-chan? How?"

He shrugged innocently. "C'mon Maka, how could you forget your cousin? You know, Sarah Albarn?"

Maka stared vacantly at her father. What did he just say? Sarah _Albarn_? She couldn't remember _her_, but Uncle Chad maybe.

_That's right, papa _does _have a brother, _she realized with a giggle.

"What?" asked Soul.

"What a normal name, 'Chad', when Papa's is so different."

"Yeah 'little brother' was always going on about my name," said Spirit. What was most ironic was that he called his older brother 'little brother'. He looked askance. "Well, he _was. _I never even got to go to his—never mind. He was a Weapon, like me."

"Hey, Sarah, you could be a weapon too!" Patty announced.

"Good point," muttered Liz.

"What?" Sarah snorted. "And just _lay there_?" She stared at them indignantly. "NO WAY, I like to fight. Besides, when I walk down these halls I want to be the one they say—," she spread her arms wide, "'that's the Meister who made a Death Scythe.' I'm going to _surpass god_."

She had heard Black*Star say this earlier, and thought it sounded pretty darn cool.

"Hey!" Black*Star complained. "Ora no furēzu o kyatchi! That's _my catchphrase_!" His light blue eyes were staring at her as if she'd just stabbed his mother. Meanwhile, Death Scythe used this moment while they were distracted to silently slip away.

"Get over it," threatened Sarah.

"Y-you wanna fight?" Black*Star pounded a fist into his palm. He wasn't going to let this go quickly, especially not from this shrimp of a girl that had been forced into their group.

"Oh, bring it on_, shorty!" _She held up her fists.

Black*Star suddenly paled; Sarah had struck a sensitive nerve.

"I'm taller than you!" he said indignantly.

"Your hair doesn't count!" she retorted.

"Just settle down," Soul suggested.

Sarah took a deep breath, and just like that, she was calm. "'Kay." she replied serenely.

Black*Star looked disappointed, running a hand through his vivid, spiky blue hair. He was looking forward to beating the tar out of the new girl. "What? I was gonna fight you."

Sarah looked at him, calm overshadowing her features.

"Are you an idiot?" She glanced at him sideways. "It's stupid to get worked up over a catch phrase. Very un-cool." It also seemed she was picking up some of Soul's dialog as well. then turned to Soul and Maka. "So, um—what class is next?"

"Gym," he said, "what else?" They made it to the locker rooms quickly, but when they did, they realized something.

"Um, I have to have a gym uniform don't I?" said Sarah.

"Oh yeah," Maka affirmed. "We don't have any extra girl uniforms do we?"

"I have an extra uniform," said the normally unprepared Soul Eater.

"Well that's it," said Maka, pushing Sarah into the locker-room

"W-wait—Ane! I can't wear—,"

. . .

Five minutes later they finally emerged, with Sarah wearing Soul's uniform. Soul's _uniform_. The thought of Soul wearing the same clothes made her feel warm and prickly all over—but in a good way nonetheless. She sniffed the shirt, it smelt like strawberries and cinnamon. Sarah smiled, a look between shy and bashful on her light brown face.

"This is really embarrassing," she admitted.

"It's okay," Maka assured her, "you look cute."

Apparently all the hormone-crazy boys in the class seemed to agree with Maka. There were quite a few appreciative whoops from the guys.

Maka scowled at them, and they became silent. "Idiots," she muttered.

Sarah and Maka helped each other stretch, an activity Soul and Maka previously shared. He stood on the sidelines, stretching by himself, looking lonely.

When Nygus-sensei blew the whistle, everyone gathered into two lines, the one on the left for girls and the other for boys. Maka stood in front of Sarah, while Kid stood to Maka's right, with Soul behind him.

"So, Kid, you goin' for eight seconds again?" Soul asked the young Grimm Reaper.

Kid nodded.

"Why do you like eight so much?" wondered Sarah aloud. The entire day she had been thinking about why the precocious little Shinigami was obsessed with that particular number.

"Because it's perfectly symmetrical both horizontally and vertically," replied Kid. "Last time I was off by .12 seconds."

"Just try not to faint if you don't get it this time," Soul reminded him, remembering the incident last time. Sometimes Kid's OCPD was just too much.

"I guess you're right," Sarah agreed.

"Besides," said Maka, smiling at Kid. "I like eight also. It means fortune, prosperity, or wealth in Chinese, and when it's turned on its side, it's an infinity symbol."

Sarah grinned as well. "I never noticed." She gave a little sigh. "When two people are in love, don't you think they should stay that way forever?"

Kid's blush spread to his ears as well. _Oh, yes I do,_ he thought to himself, looking at the girls.

Meanwhile, the line in front of them was quickly shrinking, and it was almost time for him and Maka to run.

Maka went first for her time, since the girl's line always went first.

Sarah stared in amazement as Maka went flying down the track, her long legs taking beautiful strides toward Nygus-sensei, who clicked the stopwatch and nodded approvingly when she was finished.

"Eight-point-nine-two seconds," she said, scribbling it down. "Very good Maka-chan." The girls behind Sarah _fumed. Maka_ was always the most athletic female Meister, they grumbled among themselves, how unfair. Maka went and sat on the sidelines next to the water cooler.

Next it was Kid's turn. He walked up to the line and took a deep breath, calculating how many steps he would need to—

"Good luck Kid," Sarah said brightly. "Do your best!"

He blanched. _Do my best? _This sentiment stuck in his mind.

_Alright, my best. _Death the Kid grinned dreamily. Eight_? Who needs eight?_ He thought this for what was most likely the first time in his life. Kid was going to do his best. And his best was…pretty good. When he crouched down in the starting position his mind was set. He launched himself from the starting point so quickly that everyone was astonished. This was not the usual Kid they knew who always aimed for eight seconds. His feet went so fast they blurred, as well as the rest of him.

Nygus-sensei clicked the stopwatch and whistled. "Three seconds, on the dot." Maka nearly fainted from the shock. Kid—the number three? But didn't he love eight?

"Yay!" yelled Sarah from the sidelines. "Goooo, Kid!" She waved her arms with mounting excitement.

"Alright, settle down," yelled Nygus-sensei above the girl. The teacher looked at her clipboard. "Sarah Albarn, you're next."

Sarah stopped cheering and gulped. Sweat dripped from her brow. Everyone was staring at her. She could hear the whispers of "Albarn?" and "Is she related to Maka?" They all waited patiently for her to take her position at the starting lane. Crouching into the starting position, Sarah clenched her fists and closed her eyes. _No one else is here, you are speed. You can do this Sarah. _Her feet moved in an even rhythm, she kept her head down, eyes closed. _Focus. Faster. But not too fast, you don't want to show off. You _are _the fastest girl here._

When Sarah heard the click of the stopwatch, she froze. Finished already? She wasn't even panting, not even a little.

Nygus raised a surprised eyebrow. "Eight seconds on the dot. That beats the highest record for the girls." She scribbled this down on her clipboard. "Impressive Sarah-san, you've beaten your cousin's old score."

For a couple seconds the whole track was silent. The other girls, (except for Maka) glared at her menacingly.

Maka jogged up to her cousin.

"Sarah-chan, Sarah-chan, that was so, cool. I can't believe someone actually beat my time."

It was then Soul ran up to them when he was finished. "That," he said while breathing hard, "was."-_pant_- "Sarah, you're pretty fast."

She twiddle her thumbs, unsure of how to respond other than a small thank you.

. . .

After school, Maka, Soul and Sarah made their way to way to the Death City mall on Soul's motorcycle. Since Maka sat behind Soul, Sarah sat behind Maka. Around every corner, Sarah would squeal with joy and hug her cousin's waist tighter.

When they arrived, Sarah was twirling around happily, yelling in between her joyous giggles, "Let's go again, let's go again!" as if it were some amusement park ride instead of a regular old bike. Her youthful energy made Maka laugh and pinch Sarah's cheek. Considering her lack of a memory, Sarah didn't mind being treated like a little kid, but she still rubbed the spot on her face and pouted. The trio walked through the sliding glass doors that had a skull painted on the front of them. Maka watched with a bemused smile as Sarah stared—awestruck by the high ceilings, quaint benches, and opal-colored tile. Maka took her cousin's hand.

"What do you want to buy?" Maka held up a silvery credit card with a skull on the corner. "Truthfully, I never really buy anything much except for books and a few necessities."

"Because you're boring..." sighed Soul. A slim red book connected with his face, and Soul clutched his nose in pain.

"Goddammit Maka!" he whined, muffled by his hands.

"So how about this store?" Maka pointed to an all pink boutique, which sported all types of pastel colored clothes, but mostly pink. In magenta letters the name of the place shimmered. _Pretty n' Pastel, _was what it was called. Sarah shuddered inwardly and tried to smile. Though she couldn't remember **much**, she knew from only one glance that pink was never her favourite.

"Um, well," her eyes roamed the mall for a different place. Any place at all. "How about there?" They turned and saw where she was pointing. Soul's eyes widened in surprise. Sarah was pointing to _Dark Angel_. It was as if some mad genius decided to combine _Hot Topic_, _JC Penny,_ _FYE,_ and _Books a Million._

"Hey," said Soul, excitement actually overflowing in his voice, "that's my favorite store! Cool choice let's go." He grabbed Sarah's hand and they disappeared. Maka was ticked off that her cousin was stolen, so she ran after the two. When she had caught up, they had cozily gathered by the leather jackets.

"Look Maka!" Sarah held up a jacket in Maka's size. "You can get one too!"

Maka held it next to her thin frame. "Y'think it's really me?"

"Nope," said Soul, "But at least you'll look cool."

"We'll be matching too." Sarah added, picking up a jacket for herself. In the corner of her eye she saw something. "Ooo, look!"

Before them was a most impressive collection of Goth Lolita dresses and Cosplay outfits. She wheeled the small black cart she'd found near the entrance toward the racks and began sifting through the selection. All the frills and ruffles didn't seem to bother her when they came in darker colors.

Along the way Soul and Maka added a few desired items. They stopped at the fake fangs, each getting a pair, well except Soul, who already had sharp-looking teeth. Sarah stopped by the accessories and grabbed a few _hair_ ties, not to mention a couple matching outfits on the racks beside them. On each accessory and outfit they claimed to be official recreations of the clothes from a show called 'Shugo Chara!', whatever that was. Maka and Sarah both agreed to check it out later on, though.

By the time they were ready to check out, various books, outfits, and movies that had given the store its signature look were already in their cart. At the cash register Maka swiped the card, which had Death Scythe's name on it, and smiled to the apathetic-looking cashier.

The cashier stared back, chewing her gum with an open mouth.

"Credit or Debit?" she said in a bored monotone.

"Debit," said Maka, typing in the pin number effortlessly, keeping eye contact with the cashier at all times.

As they walked away with their bags, Sarah whispered to her friends.

"Maka, was that Uncle Spirit's card?"

"Yup, he treats me all the time." Maka looked completely remorseless that she's just spent over 2, 568 dollars of her father's hard-earned cash. He used most of it for cabaret clubs, women, and drinking, so it technically wasn't that much of a big deal.

"You mean you lifted it off your old man," corrected Soul. "But one thing bothers me: how'd you find out the pin? And how'd you get away with it?"

"It was easy, he talks in his sleep." Maka winked. "Besides if you act all nervous at the cash register they'll figure something's up. You never let 'um see you sweat."

"Cool," said Soul.

"Cool," repeated Sarah, though she had no knowledge of pin numbers and bank accounts.

"I know, right?" Maka agreed. Later on, she would have to explain it to the girl.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Replay That Wavelength- A broken past emerges?

Humming a bright tune, Maka slid several thick flapjacks onto the last plate of china on the table. The three smooth white circles were arranged in a triangle on the dark oak of the square table in the breakfast nook. Maka stared at the steaming plates of eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

Soul stumbled out of his room, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Mornin' Maka~" he mumbled.

"Oh, Soul you're awake." Maka smiled devilishly. "Could you wake up Sarah for me? Breakfast is ready." Soul grumbled something incomprehensible and went off in the direction of Sarah's room.

_Perfect,_ thought Maka as her matchmaking plans commenced. She sat down at her before specified place, making it so that Sarah and Soul would sit opposite each other. And so quoting Kid, Maka's plan was "absolutely perfect."

So Soul shuffled down the hallway, vision blurry. What a way to wake up. It was probably Maka who opened the curtains on his window that morning. The glaring sunlight had waked him up, and when he opened his eyes the brightness nearly blinded him. _He-lo? Albino? Sensitive eyes?_ Sometimes he thought that Maka couldn't be more inconceivably stupid.

He reached Sarah's room entrance; a sheet of notebook paper taped to the front of the plain pine door. She'd written on it her name in messy purple ink. That's one thing Sarah and Blair had in common, the color purple. However, that's pretty much where the similarities ended.

"Sarah, you up?" he pounded on the door and waited. No answer. "Sarah!" Soul knocked harder in annoyance. When he finally pressed his ear to the door, he couldn't believe it. Light snores were still whistling on the other side. Was she a heavy sleeper or what? Soul decided on "or what". Maybe it was a trick. In any case, she wasn't waking up with just a knock on the door, that's for sure. Soul eased the door open carefully and was genuinely shocked.

There Sarah was, sleeping in Maka's old kitty print pajamas. Her serene face lay in a soft pile of her dark curly hair upon the pillow. She was semi-curled into a ball, and a clenched fist was loosely gripped to her chest. She looked just like a little sleeping doll. Soul crept closer. How was he to do this now?

"Um, Sarah?" he leaned in and shook her shoulder gently. "Wake up."

"Wes…?" she mumbled, slowly blinking her eyes open. "Oh." Sarah inhaled deeply. _I knew I smelt a cute boy._ "Is it time to wake up already?" Sarah noticed Soul's bemused stare. "What?"

"Nothing," he gestured to the door. "It's time for breakfast."

A yawn travelled past Sarah's lips. "Food~," she drooled at the smell wafting into the room, her stomach rumbling a complaint. "I'll race you Soul!" Sarah dashed past him and out the doorway.

It took a second for Soul's tired mind to catch up with what she just said.

"Wait what!" he chased after her, sluggishly rounding the corner back to the kitchen. By the time he got there, Sarah was already calmly eating her stack of flapjacks drowned in syrup.

"Soul may be pretty cool," Sarah commented with a mouthful of sweetness, "but he's a real slowpoke."

Maka nodded in agreement.

"Not my fault," he said, sitting down. "You _cheated_." He jabbed an accusing fork at her and then stabbed his frustration into the food on his plate.

She pointed to herself in mock innocence. "Moi? Cheat?" Sara smirked. "If you were really fast, like Black*Star or Kid, maybe you would have caught up...Or maybe not. I wasn't really trying yesterday. I could _probably_ beat them if I tried."

She was lying, of course, but they took it at face value. Not much was known about her anyway.

"No comment," he said. Soul sat with his eyebrows knit together, shoveling food down his throat greedily. After a few seconds he looked up. He noticed Sarah was staring at him playfully. He raised a silvery eyebrow. "What?"

Sarah suddenly seemed flustered. "Oh, um...huh?" she asked. "Was I staring into space again? I'm sorry. It's just that, you have syrup on your face."

"So what?"

"I was just wondering," Sarah replied lightly, staring at her almost empty plate. Silence hovered around the table like a swarm of mosquitoes.

"Wondering what?" Maka leaned forward with her question hanging around her neck.

Sarah turned red instantly and shook her head. "Nothing, it's dumb and embarrassing."

"C'mon," Maka prodded, smiling kindly." What is it?"

If possible Sarah got even redder. "W-well," her voice trembled slightly, as did her hand, making the fork knock against the plate. "I was th-thinking how the syrup would taste if I licked it off of Soul's cheek."

Everyone seated at the table blushed. They finished their breakfast without speaking.

"I-I'll wash the dishes," said Sarah, shattering the silence.

"Wait, I'll take them up for you," Soul protested, trying to help any way he could.

"I'll do it myself Soul." She tried to grab the plate that he was holding.

"I insist." He yanked the plate towards himself.

"I'm trying to be _helpful_." Sarah pulled the plate back.

"Well _I'm_ trying to help _you_ to be helpful."

"I don't _need_ help Soul-chan."

"If you're going to use those weird honorifics, please don't call me Soul-_chan_."

"Fine, _Soru-kun," _she stubbornly agreed.

"Do you have to pronounce my name so, foreignly?"

"You not like it?" Sarah pouted.

"It makes me feel weird_,_" _but in a good way,_ thought Soul.

"Anta wa hen desu." Sarah replied, remembering some of the Japanese from the show they all had decided to watch when they finally arrived the apartment last night. Apparently 'Shugo Chara!' was an anime that was only dubbed in Japanese, and for the sake of the two English speaking people, Maka had graciously turned on the subtitles. For someone with their mind basically empty, learning new things was easy, and Sarah had picked up some vocabulary from the children's series.

Soul looked to Maka for an explanation of what she said.

"You _are_ weird," translated his Meister, sipping some herbal tea.

Sarah let go of the plate and sighed in forfeit.

"Fine, you can help." Almost cheerily he carried the plates and cups to the sink as Sarah rolled up the sleeves of her nightie. "Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!" Sarah pointed with both index fingers to the sink and winked at Soul.

He laughed. "That's something Lord Death would say, y'know?"

Sarah was suddenly absorbed with the soap and dishes. "Really?" she said quietly.

All of a sudden Maka stood up, the chair's legs scraping the floor, making Sarah and Soul jump in alarm. She banged her palms on the table.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "We were supposed to take Sarah to meet Lord Death before school!"

"What?" asked Soul.

"Huh?" Sarah stopped washing the dishes.

"Papa told me yesterday, but I guess I forgot," Maka recalled.

"Well, let's get our butts in gear!" yelled Sarah with a determined fist clenched. In a blur she ran back to her bedroom.

Maka was already dressed, so she hurried to the bathroom and began furiously scrubbing at her teeth. When she had rinsed and wiped her mouth with the fuzzy grey rag hanging next to the door, she walked to the front door to find her friends had already finished dressing. Soul had one hand on the doorknob, ready to go.

Maka frowned. "Wait you two." She had put on her 'older sister tone', and frankly it was frightening to say the least. They froze in their tracks.

_Drat, we've been caught, _thought Sarah.

"What Maka?" asked an irritated Soul.

"I didn't see you guys bathe _or_ brush your teeth," pointed out Maka, hands on her hips. Authority rang true in her voice as she continued the 'older sister' air.

"_Pfft_—so ?" Soul replied, sticking his tongue at her in contempt.

Sarah scratched her head innocently. "Does brushing our hair count, or just rinsing with mouthwash?"

Maka sighed and tromped out the door. "You guys are disgusting."

**. . .**

Honestly, Sarah was just being plain ridiculous.

"It's okay Sarah, nothing bad will happen."

Still, Sarah stood her ground. She didn't believe what Soul had said one bit. She stood and twiddled her thumbs nervously. Her mouth twitching in uncertainty as to what she wanted to say. Maka rolled her emerald green orbs upwards in annoyance and folded her arms.

"Wou-would you guys hold my hands?" she suggested. "That'd make me feel better."

_Seriously?_

Sarah flinched at the unexpected incoming thought. Soul's noticed her reaction and his eye twitched.

_Wait, you heard that? _He sent this thought deliberately, as a test. Sarah nodded. Maybe what she had said earlier about 'peeking into his mind' wasn't complete BS. So_, you're really scared, huh?_

Another nod.

"Fine," he said aloud, firmly gripping her hand. "This way."

Down the long corridor Sarah couldn't help but stare upwards fearfully. Her mind was already imagining the decorative guillotines coming down to chop her and her friends into delectable meaty bits. Sarah whimpered quietly. Bad memories kept on flaring up in her consciousness.

_I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your—_

"Sarah?" She finally opened her eyes.

Maka was beginning to look concerned.

"We're here," said Soul gently.

Before them was Shinigami-sama, Lord Death himself. Sarah stared blankly at him. Slowly but surely, the memories were coming into focus much like in the lens of a camera. Right now she couldn't believe was seeing someone she hadn't heard from for over five years—not since that fateful night. Sarah slowly released the breath she'd been holding. Her stomach dropped to her feet as she said eight words that made both Soul and Maka pale.

"It's nice to see you again Lord Death."

From a chair behind where his father stood, Kid jumped to his feet. It wasn't very surprising he was there. Lord Death was his father after all, why else would he be named "Death The Kid"? His golden-yellow eyes had questions floating in them by the hundreds.

"Sarah," Kid's tone was undoubtedly serious. "What do you mean by 'It's nice to see you _again_?'" Sarah gave Soul's hand a tight squeeze.

"This room," she said, voice echoing. "This very room, I remember it."

"You do?" asked Maka.

"She should," said Lord Death. Kid was astonished.

"Have you been here before?" Kid asked. His hands hung loosely from his pockets by his thumbs. Sarah frowned and shook her head in the negative.

"No. But I've seen it...through a mirror."

. . .

_42-_

The reflective surface displayed the entire room. Everything was in disarray, even her mind. Barely grasping her erratic, sobbing breaths the girl stood shell-shocked. Mother and Father's panoramic mirror no longer hung in the den serenely. It was propped against the wall; luckily it hadn't shattered completely from the impact of the fall.

_42-_

Sarah laid a hand on the glass as she wrote. A sticky red hand-print remained where her palm rested. The numbers she wrote also were scarlet. Sirens blared in the distance. The regular police wouldn't understand; they were too late, anyways. Besides it wasn't their fault. They couldn't have helped even if they had come in time.

_564..._

"Whenever you want to knock on death's door..." muttered Sarah under her breath. She coughed weakly and stared at the numbers. Sarah may have not been Japanese, but her aunt and cousin were. "Shini shini goroshi." The words burned on her tongue as she clutched her ripped nightshirt.

_Death, death, murder._

These two deaths were a murder, how ironic. A fissure ran down the middle of the glass, and a crater-filled spider web of cracks was in the bottom right corner, blood running in and out of the many crevices. Before her the surface of the mirror shimmered and pulsed, thin ripples blossoming on its surface. Soft chimes were humming from the frame. A supernatural call, to report an unspeakable incident.

"Shinigami-sama," she pleaded though the hiccupping sobs, "Lord Death are you there?"

"Hello? Who is it?" A skull floating among a mass of black appeared on the mirror. This only despaired her even more.

"S-Sarah Albarn, sir."

"Sarah-chan?" Concern seeped into his usually cheery voice. He knew he had sensed something awful coming. "I barely recognized you, what happened?"

Sarah choked back tears, looking at her tattered clothes and shivering. Beside her, through the shattered bay window, a chilling gust blew her hair sideways.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. It's my fault, they were only protecting me!"

"Sarah, please slow down, calm down. Tell me what happened." Reflexively, her eyes flickered to the floor, where the corpses were, out of the mirror's line of sight.

"Sarah?"

Damp cobalt hair matted with blood.

"They're dead," she whispered.

Slender tan legs marred with congealing gashes.

"Who, Sarah?" repeated Lord Death.

One wounded girl clutching her heart.

"Mom and Dad, Ferra and Chad Albarn are dead."

. . .

"I'm sorry Sarah," said Lord Death. From the just the tone of his voice one could tell he obviously regretted what had happened. "When you called me that night, I was going to send Sid and Nygus to retrieve you after the funeral." He looked off to the side. "But as you may know, you disappeared."

"Actually," said Sarah, "the night of their death is the last of what I remember." She looked down. "At least, for the moment."

*Five Years Ago*

A scream in the night, that's how it usually starts out. You climb out of your bed to see what's wrong, only to find dead bodies.

At first, Sarah stood staring in shock, but all that she felt afterward was pain.

Where was her big brother? Away at the DWMA, unable to help.

Mama and Papa meanwhile, had been slaughtered while she slept. She had woken up at the moment they breathed their last breaths.

"Run Sarah," papa had said, wheezing as the thick blood filled his lungs. But it was too late, their attacker had already rushed upon her from behind, using the shadows as an effective cover.

It was then she felt her head jerk back violently as she slammed into the mirror. Suddenly she couldn't breathe. Sarah grabbed for her neck. A hand. A thin, bony hand strangled her.

"You'll be a fine specimen," said the voice. It was unnerving, like hearing a pressurized gas leak near her head, a low hissing noise.

"Ngh," it was a struggle but she bit down on the hand, drawing dark red blood. The assailant screeched.

"You insufferable little brat." Irritated, the witch released her Soul Protect once again in order to attempt to subdue the girl. Though she was an inexperienced Meister, Sarah sensed the magic immediately. She swallowed, iron and copper coating her tongue and throat. Sarah wanted her Oniichan. He and their adopted little brother had gone to the DWMA a while ago.

It wasn't _fair_. If you were a Weapon, once you found out that you were one, they'd accept you. But Meisters, no they had to wait to be at least 13, when their already strong soul got a boost from the growth spurt.

Young Sarah trembled where she stood among the splintered glass. She wasn't like Uncle Spirit or Papa or little Daniel; she wasn't a scythe. It was clear to see that she was a Meister like Mama and Oniichan, but she was only 8 then—Sarah couldn't quite control her own soul wavelength yet, her soul was strong, but not strong enough. Not against a witch.

"Vector Arrow," said the witch darkly, several dark arrow shapes quickly darting towards Sarah. How was she to protect anyone, much less herself, being so young? If she couldn't at least _defend_ herself against a witch, when she finally did enroll at the DWMA, how was she to get that last 100th soul? The witch's soul was most important, and now it seemed she was to die before she had a fair chance. But Sarah still refused to accept this.

_No._ Her reflexes went into action then, jumping to avoid most of the vectors, and twisted around in midair, and landing behind the witch. "Hup."

Underneath the black hood the witch wore, her golden eyes narrowed to slits. "What?" she hissed. It should have been impossible; the girl was too young to be that athletic. She spun around on her toes, and leaped backwards just in case.

Right now Sarah was determined, and almost nothing can beat pure determination. That determination seemed to spark a change. She could finally sense her own wavelength, and it was ready. Often she'd heard from Mama and Papa talk of Meisters who could attack with their soul directly, without need of a weapon partner. Sarah wanted to try that now.

Around her hand she built the charge, what was the attack called? Soul Force? An idea exploded, she wouldn't use her wavelength to give invisible blows.

"Vector Plate!" The screech ripping from her lips gave life to the spell. A giant glowing arrow appearing below Sarah, making her weightless for a moment before she was thrown in the direction it pointed—towards the witch herself.

_Perfect._

"Hyaaaaaa, _Soul Slash_!" She compressed her wavelength into a flat line, the feedback changing the invisible force into more of an invisible blade. It sliced though the vectors like they were butter, catching the witch off-guard again.

"What?" she repeated.

Sarah leaped in front of her, and in a spinning roundhouse kick, delivered a massive blow to the witch's solar plexus, enhanced by a bit of her wavelength she added to it. "Hah, hah," she panted through an open mouth, jumping away swiftly, her hands already up in a Judo stance, ready to strike again. Holding her abdomen, the witch backed down, the dark red blood spilling over her arm. The villain retreated to the window she had smashed in, conjuring her broomstick in an instant.

"I'll come back for you later," she decided aloud, flying off into the moon.

"Wait! I'm not finished with you!"

Sarah was met by a low chuckle. "Expect another visit soon then, Sarah-chan," the words echoed into the night. Sarah was left staring into the darkness. When she was sure that she couldn't sense the witch anymore, Sarah went to her parents. Just lifeless and cold. But wait, something was wrong. Something crucial was missing that should have been there if they were truly dead. Sara reeled at the revelation, she couldn't sense their souls. She couldn't see them either.

Both their souls were gone. Stolen. The tears forced their way out of her eyes.

"You damn witch!" she screamed, the night air pierced by her despairing voice.

_All my fault…_

/

-Present Day-

"Good morning!" called Sarah, still wearing Maka's signature look. Kid had followed the three after leaving the Death Room.

"Hey Maka, Sarah, Soul, how are things?" asked Liz. "You look a bit down."

"Hi guys," said Crona shyly from behind Patty. Patty just grinned brightly.

"Things are, cool, I guess," responded Sarah none too enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" said Maka, trying to lift the mood, "We went shopping yesterday." She hugged Sarah, putting her in a headlock o' love. "Sarah's like my little girl, so I have to."

"A-Ane-chama!" Sarah exclaimed, embarrassed.

_Ane-chama?_ Thought everyone.

"That's so cute!" yelled Patty. "Big sis, I should start calling you that."

"Really Patty?" Liz replied.

"Uh Huh!" Ah, the innocence of blonds.

"Hey, wait just a second!" announced Black*Star. "You can't just come up in Shibusen and steal MY crowd."

"Whatever Black*Star, I bet that 'cause I'm so much cooler than you, that your crowd will part faster than your hair when I'm done with you." Her voice had suddenly become so cold at the end of her threat that Black*Star shivered and hid behind Tsubaki.

"That girl's kinda scary, y'know? Like maybe Stein scary?" he whispered this to his weapon.

"I can _hear_ you still..." Sarah's sinisterly smiling silhouette appeared behind him.

_It's as if she's a different person,_ Tsubaki thought. The weapon-girl may also have imagined that she saw a flash of purple in Sarah's eyes.

"Sarah, slash!" Swiftly she brought the side of her palm rushing toward him, wavelength compressed so tightly that it was like a thin yellow ribbon of energy. It slashed though his hair and part of his cheek. By the time he looked up, a wide row of hair was gone and a shallow wound from his cheek oozed some blood. "You mess with me and you'll get cut into_ little_ stars. Got it memorized?"

"Whatever you say Sarah-sama," he replied shakily.

_How out of character_, thought Tsubaki.

"Wow Sarah, you can use your wavelength to attack?" Maka knew so little about Sarah that she was often astonished; she stared at the girl incredulously.

"Is that what I did?" Sarah murmured. "I just did what felt natural."

"I definitely think you're a Meister now," Maka replied.

"But there's no one without a partner right now," said Soul. "So I guess you're stuck."

Patty raised her hand. "Ooo, ooo! Maybe you could borrow me and sis?"

"What?" protested Kid. "Hey!"

"Yeah~" Liz interrupted. "Or maybe you could test each of us out, I mean maybe twin pistols aren't the best for you."

So the kids went outside to find out.

"Hey maybe I could duel some of you guys." Sarah pointed to Kid, Black*Star, and Maka. "Whichever weapon I fare best with should, like, fight with me when I need them!"

"Sounds good," said Kid. "Us Meisters should practice attacking without weapons just in case we don't have you guys beside us."

"I am _not_ fighting my Sarah-chan," quietly announced Maka.

Tsubaki turned to her Meister. "Black*Star, do you want me to get Professor Stein so he could watch us?"

"Why not?" he cracked a mischievous grin. Black*Star pounded his fist into his palm. "I've been waiting to challenge this girl since she messed up my hair."

In only a few minutes the teacher arrived. "Each trial period should last about 5-6 minutes," Stein announced while sitting backwards on his swivel chair. "Don't strain yourself Sarah-chan."

"Hey, Professor?" Sarah looked to the teacher as he twisted the giant bolt lodged through his head.

"What is it?"

"I was thinking, since I'm an orphan...could you adopt me?"

The chair slipped from beneath him. "WHAT?"

"Could you adopt me?" repeated Sarah with an uncertain look. "I don't want Uncle Spirit to adopt me, he's such a scumbag. I can't believe he'd cheat on Auntie Kami!" She blushed as if she was asking a boy on a date. "So, could you..."

" ..." Stein dragged himself up off the floor and dusted off his coat. "Well sure, if you put it that way, I'll adopt you.

"Yay!" she clasped her hands together. "From now on I'm calling you 'Papa Stein', okay?" She put an inquisitive finger to her lips. "Wait, what was I doing again?"

"The duel," reminded Soul.

"Right," Sarah turned to the Thompson sisters. "Patty, Liz time to transform."

"Okay," said Liz.

"Alright," agreed Patty. In a flash of purple light, the girls changed into two pistols. Sarah caught them very easily, which was surprising because she'd never held a pistol in her life.

"Kid-kun fires with his pinkies," said Liz. "Just in case you want to try it, too."

It was then Black*Star jumped into the air and landed only inches from Sarah, planning to send her flying with his wavelength, but instead she turned just enough so that Black Star missed her completely. She fired several rounds into him (using her pinkies felt a bit awkward), and gave him a swift kick in the balls.

"Ugh!" he clutched the sensitive area. "No, fair..." he said, "Cheater..."

A shadow above her. Crap, she'd forgotten about Kid! The leg of his dark pants swung towards her head, and she ducked, shot him repeatedly and then gave a swift kick to his pale face. He head snapped back, white fire cutting at the base of his neck.

Damn, could she _kick_.

Black*Star and Kid scurried away and sat on the side, recovering from their assault.

"Sorry Kid-kun!" chimed Patty.

"Yeah, what she said," Liz apologized. The twins transformed back into their human forms and stretched. It was Tsubaki's turn now.

"Oh!" Sarah exclaimed in awe. "So cool."

"I can change into four weapons, actually," said Tsubaki.

"Really? That's just plain amazing!"

Not quite down for the count, the two Meisters struggled to their feet. Were _they_ going to be sore in the morning!

"WOW," said Kid, absolutely relishing that he had used such a symmetrical word. "That wavelength's pretty strong," he paused. "For a human, at least."

"Well, not as strong as mine!" bragged Black*Star. "I bet she can't even take the enchanted sword mode! She wouldn't last five seconds."

Sarah frowned at the ninja. "Really? I bet you I can!" She looked to Tsubaki. "Enchanted Sword Mode, Tsubaki-chan!"

"Eto..." Tsubaki said, "Black*Star, is it okay, I mean..."

"Go ahead, Tsubaki! _Let_ her pass out!"

"O-okay." Tsubaki transformed again, shining and shifting into a grey katana. The black shadow markings swiftly spread up Sarah's arms, her neck, her face.

"Get ready, boys," she said, taking a battle stance similar to Setsuna from _Negima!_ Black*Star swore_. She can take the Enchanted Sword too? This girl's unreal_.

"It's okay Kid, you can use Liz and Patty if you want," said Sarah.

"Alright, L—"

"We got it we got it," said Liz before the young Shinigami finished. Kid caught them and crisscrossed his arms, pointing the barrels towards Sarah.

"Go," said Sarah, rushing at them with the sword. At first, when Kid came at her, shooting rapidly at her, Sarah used the sword to chop through the shots in several efficient swings. While she was distracted, Black*Star pushed her to the ground, her left knee hitting the stone pretty hard. Ignoring the pain, she blocked Black Star's next Soul Wavelength attack, kicked him again (this time in the face), and when Kid tried to take advantage of the vulnerability of her distraction, he was met only by the back of Tsubaki's blade and thrown back with a punch to the abdomen.

She shook her fist slightly. "You're lucky, Kid, that I pull my punches."

"Alright, fight's over," announced Stein with a catlike smile. She was an interesting one, wasn't she? He nudged Maka. "You see that Maka-chan? Can you see how strong her soul is?"

Maka nodded, and then squinted. "Actually professor...correction: souls."

Kid spat some blood onto the ground. "You called _that pulling_ a _punch_?" he rasped.

"Did I hurt you, Kid-kun? I'm sorry!" she said this tenderly, helping the boy up onto his feet. Kid shook his head, but then decided against that when pain shot up and down his spine, leaving a burning in his neck area.

"I know, it's okay, I'm okay." he said, while peering at Sarah, his golden eyes blinking rapidly in disbelief. Since he was a Shinigami, _naturally_ he could see souls, but was he _seeing correctly_? _That's weird, _he thought. _She has two. No wonder._ The first soul he saw was already strong. It was pretty big, its circumference only a bit taller than herself, it appeared to be a very pure shade of blue that shone exceptionally bright. Two fluffy wing-like structures fluttered at the top. A ring of blue hovered above it, glowing brighter than the rest of her soul. The wavelength emitted from it was gentle, but at the same time could be cutting if need be. However, Kid could see that within _that_, within her another soul shone. It was unnatural, the way it glowed, as if it didn't belong there. It was a very deep cobalt that glimmered, it's wavelength pulsing in rhythm to the first. Obviously, it was planted there, but how it was done, Kid could only guess. He blinked, and both souls disappeared from his view. Sarah most likely didn't know of the second soul she apparently owned. "Hey, Sarah," he said. "Why don't you fight with Soul? Maybe you two would make a better team?"

"That's cool," replied Sarah, before Soul had a chance to object. "I've never seen Soul and Maka practice before, so I guess it'll be a surprise." She walked up to him and winked. "Soul?"

He was snapped out of his daydream too quickly. "Um, okay."

Sarah smiled as she watched Soul transform. Yet, when she finally beheld the weapon placed before her, Sarah's heart thundered in her ears. Her lips parted as a fearful gasp was drawn in sharply. Soul clattered to the ground as Sarah dropped him and ran.

"I was afraid of that," Stein admitted, watching her retreating figure.

"Afraid of what?" Black*Star wondered aloud.

"Don't you remember what she said before?" Kid asked. "She was attacked by a scythe. It would be understandable that she 'd be afraid of Soul."

"So in other words," said Soul while Maka picked him up. "She wouldn't be able to fight with me?" His voice tapered off softly.

Stein took a long, lazy draw from his cigarette. "On the contrary." He continued to turn the screw, it's clicking seemed lonely and distant. "I've analyzed her soul data as well. Your, and Sarah's souls have extremely compatible wavelengths. Maybe even more so than Maka and your own."

"So, what you're saying is," Maka looked in the direction Sarah had run. "Her fear is the only thing holding her back."

. . .

Blurry, the whole world was blurry. Sarah kept on running. She was trying her best, so to the passerby, Sarah was little more than a swift blur. Warmth from the setting sun was already drying the tears on her face. Disorienting heat clung to her like a bad smell. Sarah stopped suddenly, dizziness swirling her already confused thoughts around. Why was she suddenly so afraid of Soul? She liked him didn't she? Hadn't he saved her?

But, he was a scythe.

Within a shadowed ally nearby, a twisted smile blossomed in the darkness.

Sarah shivered despite the dry, warm wind pushing at her back. She couldn't handle either fact right now, but it was stupid of her to have left, she quickly realized. Maybe she should go back; they were most likely worried. Sarah turned swiftly, walking back in the direction of the school. On her hurried way down the cobblestone path, she tripped over a loose stone but caught herself. It was then a shadow suddenly appeared from behind, and a cold prickling sensation bubbled across the back of her neck. Why hadn't she sensed him before? Sarah was afraid to turn around, but she finally did.

"You should be more careful Sarah-chan," said the gruff, chilling voice. For a moment her blood seemed to stop circulating. Her brown eyes were smoldering in disbelief. Her entire body felt frozen, a cold numbness had crept over her limbs. "I wouldn't want my precious girl to get hurt, now would I?"

William's steel-tipped boot came around, kicking Sarah in the gut.

"_Glk_!" Clutching her stomach she fell back, sinking to her knees. "_Huff, huff._" All of the air had been knocked out of her lungs in an instant. The young boy that was standing next to her attacker smiled, though the only reason he did was to stay alive—William would punish him if he didn't follow suit. William was always watching him, monitoring his reactions, telling _her_ if he misbehaved at all. _She_ wouldn't care much if William killed him, but still...

The beatings were becoming intolerable.

Looking up slightly, Sarah was too stunned to move. She looked to the floor. The reason she had tried so desperately to come to the DWMA...was standing right in front of her. The same reason Lord Death had wanted to speak with her after she had removed.

_I deserve this, _she thought, still recovering from the ambush. Sarah dared to look up again.

"Daniel," barked William, extending his left hand to the small boy. His companion flinched at the mention of his own name, twisted a finger through his ginger locks, and morphed into a long, jagged edged scythe.

_Obedient as a dog, _thought William with smug satisfaction. He caught the young Weapon, a smirk chiseled on his sharp features.

"Any last words?" William put one hand under Sarah's chin, making her gaze even higher. He raised Daniel high, the completely grey blade shining in the light. Daniel's small face appeared in it.

_I'm sorry, _thought Daniel.

_I'm sorry, _thought Sarah.

William grinned even broader. _DIE._

Two solitary tears rolled down her cheeks as she whispered two words: "Why, brother?"

And then, clank of metal against metal. Sarah shivered, she expected to be dead. She _should_ have been dead. But why was she—?

"Sarah."

No, it couldn't. She opened her eyes. "Soul, I'm sorry," said Sarah, looking at the blade staked into the ground in front of her. Soul's reflection flickered across the surface, and she suddenly felt calm inside despite the fact she had been seconds from death.

"Never mind that now, Sarah," ordered Soul. "Get up!"

_Right, _she thought, nodding once.

"What the hell?" William droned. "Who are you?"

Soul growled as Sarah picked him up and twirled him around.

"I'm Soul, you jerk. She's my friend." Sarah sprang backwards, away from the incoming swing William delivered. "And right now, she's my Meister, so back off or I kill you."

William snarled. "Don't be so confident. I'll be the one doing the killing, you impudent little Scythe." With an almost demonic look, he ran towards them, obsidian hair jostled by the wind, his eyes turning a violent shade of aqua.


	5. Chapter 4

**Our Story so Far: **An injured girl, named Sarah Albarn, apparently a long-forgotten cousin of Maka, was found on the doorstep of their apartment. She turns out to have amnesia, and as her unstable memories are resurfacing, we learn of her twisted past: Both parents are dead, and her brothers were missing. Emphasis on **were**. Aside from being an orphan, apparently Sarah turns out to be a powerful Meister (albeit young), and has good control over her wavelength. However, where was she for the past five years? What happened to her brothers? And most importantly, why does she have _two_ souls?

. . .

**LD: **Wassup? Wassup? Wassup? Heloooooo everyone! How's it going? How ya doin'?

_**Um...Hello, Lord Death.**_

**Sa: **Yeah, hi.

**LD: **What's wrong with you two?

**Sa: **My past is really depressing now that I'm starting to remember...

_**Yeah, and I for one am getting depressed writing about it...**_

**So: **Well if it makes you feel better, things are looking up.

**Sa: **How?

_**Yeah, **how **Soul?**_

**LD: **I also am curious as to how, please explain.

**So: **(smirks) We're gonna beat up this smug jerk who tried to kill you!

**Sa:**...

_**...yeah, um...**_

**LD: **Soul-kun, there's something you should know, since the readers should know from the last chapter what "Oniichan" means in Japanese.

**So: **What should I know Lord Death? Did I miss something when I came to save Sarah just in the nick of time?

_**Yes, you did...**_

**LD: **Even I saw what happened, through my mirror.

**Sa: **(nods somberly) Yeah, well that jerk who tried to kill me is...was...my brother, William, and Daniel is...

_**Wait! Sarah don't tell them yet! They'll find out soon! Anyway, where's Maka? We're waiting for her to start off!**_

**Ma: **(bursts through the door panting) Sorry I'm late! Soul forgot to tell me again that he was leaving early! (Shoots an "I'm going to fucking kill you" look at Soul, who whistles)

_**(I also glare at Soul, who inches away from me and Maka) Could you start us off?**_

**Sa: **Can I say it too? In Japanese?

_**Sure...**_

**Sa: **Kenzen naru "tamashii" wa, kenzen naru seishin to...(tries to remember) kenzen naru nikutai ni yadoru. (squeals "I did it from memory!" under her breath)

**Ma: **A sound soul, dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body.

**. . .**

Chapter 4: Medusa's Rat- Just another test subject?

-Seven Years Ago-

"Why didn't you watch them better?"

William bowed his head, dark brown eyes to the floor. He hated when mother yelled at him. He tried to sneak a glance at the little brat. Sarah sat scrunched in the corner, sobbing, hiding. She should be the one getting scolded, not him. It was all her fault, not his. Everything always went onto his shoulders, didn't it? Didn't it _always_?

"I-I just..." he barely managed to say. "I—," he sighed and continued to look down. He was shaking, from anger, fear... Why did they care so much for that stupid little girl? She was a useless little thing who acted so na**ï**ve it was pitiful. Always singing her stupid, crappy little happy songs. Always. He felt so much disdain for his little sister it hurt his chest.

"She could have been injured, or _worse_!"

Looking to his feet, William blocked out the never ending ranting of his mother. Ferra just kept on yelling. That's all she did lately, yell at him, yell at Dad. But never the two _brats_. It seemed it was always that way. She was probably on edge because Chad, his father, was out drinking yet again. Ever since their vacation to the US, their father was out drinking, night after night, all thanks to Uncle Spirit.

His brow furrowed. That man. Chad had just quit alcohol, and that man had started him up again.

"You're just lucky they returned her unharmed..." Ferra put a lock of long black hair behind her ear and sighed. "We're all lucky that they accepted the ransom."

He realized he was shaking with sobs, tears spilling over his eyes. His mother put two firm hands on his shoulders and said in an almost broken voice: "Look at me, Will."

Still crying, he refused, sniffing.

"William." Her voice suddenly became arctic, and he willed his head to tilt upwards quickly, knowing that when she used her 'voice' that it never meant anything good if you went against her. William quickly saw that she was crying too. "Do you _understand_, William? You're the oldest, and you've got to protect them."

"But..."

"No buts," she said, her voice cracking as she pulled him into a pained hug. "You have to."

_You have to,_ echoed a voice in his head.

_But what if I **die** trying? But what if I don't want that kind of life? What if I don't **want **to?_

_You don't have to, William,_ answered the voice.

It was then within that same day William found himself travelling down a different path. Not one a human should take, but not one of a Kishin either.

A twisting, confusing path full of **Snakes** and **Arrows**.

/

-Five Years Ago-

"How selfish Wes, how _perverted_."

It was dark and a thirteen-year-old Wes Evans was tied to a stiff metal chair, ropes looped uncomfortably tight around both hands, feet bound as well. He held his head down, relaxed his muscles, conserving his energy. Earlier he had struggled against the restraints with little luck. "In love with a _little girl?_" The smooth, almost creeping voice, was deriding him, mocking him.

Wes didn't like it one bit. "Shut up," he said.

Something cold and blunt smacked him on the cheek, sending his head jerking sharply to the right. A throbbing ache was building in his neck; he had heard a loud crack, and he hoped it wasn't something important. He sneered at the darkness, his red eyes almost glowing with hatred at his abductor.

"No. _You _shut up," spat the fiend. "Why don't you be a good boy now, and listen to your mother?" Wes had a vague, cold feeling that the kidnapper just smiled. "Why don't you _tell_ little Sarah what she said? You know she's right." There was a faint click, and suddenly there was soft light glowing from a dim light bulb that hovered above his line of sight.

Wes now saw before him a woman. Her golden eyes were sly, slanted, and snake-like, and her blond hair fell over her shoulders slightly, two long bangs twisted around each other like those snakes in the caduceus symbol. Both arms were covered in rows of dots that wrapped around her arms and ended in two dark tattoos shaped like snake-heads. It was none other than the Witch, Lady Medusa. She smiled gently, and Wes felt fury within him bursting to get out.

"Because she just lost her _parents_!" He yelled at the Witch, wanting to rip her apart like she was a piece of wet tissue paper. "Why the hell depress her even more?"

Medusa only smiled and moved closer to him. "You _will_ listen, boy." She gently stroked the side of his face and giggled.

Wes flinched away in revulsion, his face burning with shame. "Don't touch me."

"Why not?" She pursed her supple lips playfully. Wouldn't you rather want a woman instead of a little girl? Or are you just a pedophile, Wes?" He ignored the comment.

"Why am I here, and how do you know my name?"

"_Tsk, tsk. _I'm not telling you a thing. My lips are zipped like a padlock." With a sinister grin she attacked his lips with her own. A single small snake slithered out, and Medusa quickly drew away before Wes got violent.

Poor Wes coughed as it wriggled down his throat. "What the hell?"

Medusa smiled again. "Now Wes...you are going to tell her."

-Present Day-

Sarah's feet didn't shift an inch from her stance. Standing her ground she brought Soul's blade upwards to protect her face, blocking the attack. Another clank resounded, Daniel clashing against Soul once more. Both Meisters were locked in a battle of strength, as William pressed blade against blade, with Sarah fighting against it. He was planning to drain her energy by heaping on the stress and then go in for the death-slash.

"I can't _do_ it, Soul," she said quietly. All Sarah could do was block the incoming hits, over and over. No real attacks were coming from her; all it seemed like was that she was running. Like she didn't even _want_ to fight him. William gritted his teeth in annoyance. Again and again he swung his arm back and forth, each blow striking her Weapon, Soul was surprised that he actually was wincing at the blows, they were far from ordinary by far. A warm, angry teardrop fell onto Soul, running down the silver shaft she gripped with both hands.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Soul asked. "Why're you crying?"

Sarah looked to the scythe being used against her.

"Danny, don't do this, please," begged Sarah. Her trembling knee finally buckled, and she yelped under the stress. A pale face appeared in the grey blade, baby blue eyes pleading.

"William is my Meister," replied the younger boy. "I have to obey him."

A loud, bitter cackle from William made Sarah's blood boil. "He's no longer your little otōto-chan. He's my Weapon, and we're going to kill you."

"Why not?" asked Soul quickly to his temporary Meister. "I saw, he tried to kill you."

"But—,"she spat, struggling against the pressure William was putting into the attack. "Little brother..."

William's eyes simply blazed turquoise. "SHUT UP AND DIE, YOU BITCH!"

"Onich—,"

"Don't call me that! Don't call me that! I'm no longer your precious big brother!"

"Sarah," said Soul, "You don't mean to tell me..."

In an explosion of anger and sorrow, more tears flowed.

"Yes, it's true!" she yelled. "He's my older brother!"

"WAS!" shrieked William insanely. "WAS!" William stopped his attack to laugh cruelly. "I was her brother, stupid little scythe."

"Grr...Sarah..."

"HAHA HA!" laughed the boy, "It was _that_ night my beloved Medusa left this place!"

"..." Sarah's eyes flickered purple, and suddenly she slipped under, through his legs and emerged on the other side, behind him.

"Oh," he continued. "I know I know...'I was missing for five friggin' years! What are you _talking_ about, Oni-tan?'" He scoffed and shook his head when he saw her blank expression. "Figures. Of course you wouldn't know, Sarah. Medusa made sure of it." An image of chains and coldness flickered in her brain. She winced as a mini-headache ripped through her brain, but then quickly receded. Soul narrowed his eyes at the mention of the witch.

He tried to refocus his Meister on battling the enemy rather than his confusing words. "Hey, Sarah, why don't we try it?"

"Try what?" she shouted, staking the shaft into the ground. She swung around and kicked William in the face. He staggered back and rushed again. Again and again Sarah dodged the attacks, but she was quickly tiring, blocking wasn't doing much good, and William seemed inexhaustible.

"Resonating our souls; it's worth a try."

Sarah shook her head in doubt. "I've never tried it before. You and Maka may be able, but are we even compatible?"

"You can at least hold me, can't you? Hey, this is _us_. Other than Maka, I've never really liked someone so much on our first meeting." Soul heaved a sigh, hoping he'd never have to say this speech again in the future. "You're _cool_, Sarah, and in my book that just beats all." He appeared in the blade and stared her down. "Whatddya say?" asked Soul evenly. The pep-talk lifted her heart a little.

"What do I say?" said Sarah, leaping into the air with a devious smile. "I say: Ikou ze!" Soul smirked, and she saw his jagged teeth spread into an equally shifty grin. She twirled the scythe round multiple times, and brought the blade roughly in front of her. Sarah fixed her eyes on her brother, a hatred she never thought she could possess, boiling.

"_Let's GO!" _they yelled, _"SOUL RESONANCE!"_ Multiple sparks flew back and forth between the pulsing melodies of their souls. The energy built more and more until Sarah's soul expanded once again, the incandescent blue almost blinding. William's eyes momentarily shifted to brown as his sanity kicked in for a second.

_Her __**soul**__, it's...no... _Will shook his head. "'C'mon! That's never going to hurt me!" She breathed in and out to the beat of their resonating souls, the sound shockingly beautiful to her ears. When Sarah finally opened her eyes, they were definitely glowing violet. Within the Black Room, Soul thought he heard a small giggle. "Sarah?" he asked, looking around uncertainly within the room. The little ogre stared at him, his beady eyes looking off into the darkness that stood beyond the albino.

"You sense them too?" he questioned Soul, making the weapon raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"The legendary super-skill of the Scythe-Meister," she said, Soul's blade shifting into a moon-shaped, glowing form.

_Majogari! _

"_WITCH-HUNTER!" _she shrieked as she swung the blade, making it barrel towards William.

A flash of pain. Blood. Splatter.

An anguished yell.

William's left arm plummeted to the ground with an ugly, squishy thud. For a moment his mind went into shock as he gripped where the limb once was. Immediately he released his Weapon, and Daniel fell, striking the ground with a metallic rattle. "Medusa," he whispered, gritting his teeth. "You're lucky you escaped, from her~ she would punish you if she knew you did this to me." With his boot, William kicked Daniel. "You useless little blade, I don't need you..." And with that, he dashed down the street, blood dripping from his stubby limb. Sarah was about to chase after him, but Soul stopped her.

"What about the boy?"

She looked to where William had dropped his weapon. Daniel had changed back into his human form, shivering, a few shallow slashes on his arms. He was sobbing quietly.

Sarah knelt next to her adopted brother. "Hey, Soul, help me." Gently, she stroked his sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. When William had tried to block Witch-hunter with Daniel, it seemed that Daniel had gotten injured as well. "Danny? Otōto-chan? It's okay, it's me Sarah." He looked up with fearful eyes towards Sarah and Soul. Wailing he hugged her neck, apologizing, eyes pouring tears. Sarah giggled softly, tears welling up as well. "My otōto-chan, I knew you didn't want to hurt me..."

She picked up the small eleven-year old and smiled to Soul. "I'm not afraid anymore," she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I know." He grinned back.

" I remember you, Danny. It's alright now, I remember."

And the three went back to face the music.

. . .

Maka knocked on the door before she burst into the room. Her eyes widened in worry. "OHMIGOD! SARAH! SOUL! WHAT HAPPENED?"

Sarah guiltily looked away. "_Betsuni_...nothing."

Soul rolled his eyes. "Nothing, she says. Well..." Maka waited patiently until he was finished with describing the fight and its outcome.

"So," said Maka with a resigned sigh. " It seems that William has come back to the academy."

Abruptly Soul was panicked."You knew the psycho?" he nearly shrieked in surprise.

Maka sighed at her weapon's reaction."He used to go here, Soul. Though I had _no idea_ he was my cousin, after all. In fact, he was the one of the best upperclassmen Meisters at the DWMA..."

"What happened to him?" Sarah looked to Daniel, who lay on the infirmary cot, asleep. Measuring Sarah's steady even stare that mirrored her own from another time, Maka sighed and shook her head: an indication of insufficient knowledge.

"After the Kishin was revived...it seems that he mysteriously disappeared."

-Five Years Ago-

So many somber stares, pitying. Sarah hates them all, she doesn't want their pity. She doesn't need it. In the middle of the wretched ceremony Sarah runs out of the funeral bawling, wailing, howling, her hands covering her face to hide the tears that won't stop no matter how hard she tries. A raspy cough breaks the silence after her violent departure, and a slight, whispering argument can be heard at the back of the church. A second later a teenage boy follows her.

Wes found Sarah kneeling over the pool of water, cherry-blossoms floating just below her fingertips. He sighs when he sees her dressed in her pitch-black, yet beautiful real silk kimono that shines in the sunlight.

"Hey."

Sarah turns, ashamed at someone finding her still grieving.

"Oh, Sempai, it's you."

He walks over to the pool and sits next to her. She sighs and allows two more tears slip out, her lower lip still trembles, wanting to cry, but at the same time not wanting to.

"I feel so mixed up," she admits. Her eyes gain the slight features of a grin, while her mouth stays in that solid, shaking line. Wes feels almost sick inside, as his gut twists in sympathy. He knows he loves her, he doesn't want to hurt her, but something is moving up his throat. It feels as if he's going to puke if he doesn't say the words.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he manages, swallowing the venom in his belly, before the words can go and wound her even more. He takes her hand and she looks up. His Sarah, the delicate angel who loved music as much as he. His Sarah, the one who's caramel face looks crafted out of porcelain, her lips like a doll's, her brown eyes a light milk chocolate that sparkles in the sun. Her curly hair soft, like puppy-fur.

"You know I love you Wes?"

He is shocked for a moment, but then shakes his head in the negative. No, he didn't know she felt the same. Maybe he should have known, when she wrote that song for him in G# ("A flat!" She insisted), called Meditation of Souls. She had repeatedly claimed (while blushing violently he might add) it wasn't for him, but he should have known, since he often told her how much he loved and admired his younger brother Soul. Sarah claimed it was based on the principles of Phasmology, but he should have known. Wes nervously takes her soft, yet scarred hand.

"I—," he struggles to return the love, to reciprocate the feelings, but his voice has other plans. Within him the snake writhes and twists, the evil magic making his thoughts warped. "I l—don't think we should see each other anymore."

Her face falls even more, if possible. "W-why?" she chokes out, not wanting more tears to flow.

"My parents," Wes, explained, "have been wanting me to tell you to stop playing piano. They think you're a—a—," he doesn't want to say it. "A disgrace to musicians." No, he doesn't want to cut her down like this. NO. She's even more talented than him even, on the violin.

"W—what?"

"I'm afraid...they said that."

"Then I'll just stop playing the pi—,"

"They said to tell you to stop playing. Period. I'm sorry." The words rush out of his mouth like some ugly curse, and she lets go of his kind hand to run, crying again. She runs and runs and runs and runs, shrieking like a crazed harpy. Never stopping once to realize what that presence she sensed following her, was not Wes. Sarah ran some more, until her legs began to fail her and her lungs were starving for air. Only to be caught by a smiling snake with blond hair.

. . .

"Is it done?" From the sidelines that familiar slithering voice echoed in the mostly empty operating room.

Dutifully, robotically, the woman standing over their 'patient' noded.

"Yes, Lady Medusa," responded the woman.

"The scars are gone?" asked Medusa, looking down at the unconscious form below them. Medusa had made sure she was restrained heavily, with chains and leather straps around both her arms and feet. Sooner or later the magical sedative the girl had been given would wear off, and the usual response from this subject was often hostility.

"Yes," said the other witch, "and the soul is in place and intact." It had been a success, of course. And thanks to her healing magic, the girl would make a more than optimal recovery. However, during such surgery, the woman noticed

In one of her rare moments of genuine emotion, Medusa praised her.

"Good work, Amaya."

Hesitant, Amaya looked to her with a desperate look.

"Lady Medusa, will I—,"

"Yes," interrupted Medusa, grinning. "You'll be able to see your Kim again, very soon."

"Thank you." Her green eyes overflowed with her tears as she brushed away a long strand of dark pink hair.

Of course, Medusa had no such plans of letting the Raccoon Witch go.


	6. Chapter 5

**Our Story so Far: **Our...um "heroine,"(would you call her that?) Sarah Albarn, (Maka's cousin) was attacked by her mentally unstable, traitor of an older brother William. She manages to defeat the fiend in battle, but he leaves behind his weapon, Daniel, their adopted younger brother. It just so happens that Danny is a scythe as well. Now what will happen?

Notice: Story will be an awkward mix of the anime and manga's plot lines so bear with me. Plus it's gonna be a reeeaaly long chapter, I can't even call it a "chappie." Extra types of soul perception shown = [brackets] _Oh yeah...just for fun, I will be describing the opening sequence if this were the real show (but it's not). So pretend Papermoon is playing when it appears...K? Anyways, onto the weird banter! (WARNING: I was just trying to establish the fact that Sarah was…y'know….NOT trying to be racist! Besides, I'm mixed, why would I try and be racist? T.T I'm sorry, but there was a mean anonymous flamer….)_

**So**: So, wait, what am I missing here?

It depends on what you're reading, Soul.

**Ma: **It appears she knew you and Wes before I did.

**So:** You're not even supposed to _know_ about him yet, Maka!

**Spi: **Maka? It that you my darling dau—

**Ma: **(lodging a book into Spirit's head) Don't call me that...Hey, where's Sarah?

**So:** (Blushing in anger) She went to hang out with Kilik.

**Ma: **Ok, wait, WHAT?

**So: **I mean why _him_? Why KILIK? (Ranting now) Why couldn't she hang out with me too? I mean she said I was cool right, don't cool guys hang out with pretty girls—

**Sa: **(standing in doorway for half the rant) You think I'm pretty? (blushes)

**Spi: **(from the ground) My darling nei~ (Maka hits him again)

**So: **(whirls around) S-Sarah! I-I...(faints in shock)

**Sa: **Eh! (drops shopping bag) Soul? (shakes him) Are you okay? Your soul wavelength is all messed up! Are you sick? Must be, 'cause you know the first basic thing you learn in Phasmology is that phrase.

**So: **(recovers slightly) What phrase?

**Ma: **The one me an' Sara always say! Geez, Soul, do you not pay attention at all?

**Da: **(pops otta nowhere) Even _I _know it Soul-oniichan!

**So: **(whining like a brat) Then say it already, Danny! I wanna get this chapter over with!

**Da: **A sound soul, dwells in a sound mind, and a sound body.

Chapter 5: An Injured Soul- Both Meister and Weapon In One?

"_Hell~o, Hell~o, Hell~o, how low_?"

Annoyed, Sarah scoffed at the chords and stopped playing. Her vocals were off again. With a gentle push, she put the custom made black and grey Alvarez-electric between her and the wall and shut off the small amp. On the lead colored pick-guard as well as the back of the instrument, her name was overlaid in messy purple script.

She looked out the window, her thoughts swept up in the swirling sand and grit outside. Her belongings had finally been recovered from her home in Europe. All of the clothes had been too small, of course, but her instruments (obviously) had plenty of use left, as well as the other items recovered.

Plushies, bed sheets, manga magazines, necklaces, armbands, stupid little notes to herself, old valentines, a PlayStation 2, a few video games, DVD compilations of anime, volumes upon volumes of Shoujo and Shounen (even Seinen) manga, and even more volumes of regular books and light novels. One could clearly see how she was related to Maka; it seemed the girl breathed literature. Sarah had lined the back wall of her room with four bookshelves. The two free walls had a desk, and her bed, with anime posters stuck on the walls above them. More than half her manga collection and one fourth of her regular novels were heaped on the four tall bookshelves. The rest lay in the living room on four _other_ shelves next to Soul's menacing-looking grand piano.

A MacBook lay serenely on the desk, word processor open, screen glowing softly. _Scars and Stiches_ ran across the top of the screen, but nothing else.

On the shelf above her bed sat a few Carebears and Pokémon dolls; Pikachu's tail was hanging off the shelf's edge and she stared at it for a while, pondering her newfound memories, fiddling with the semi-transparent dark red plastic guitar-pick, turning it over and over with her fingertips. There was a knock on the door that broke her thoughts, and she sat upright on the bed. She was fully dressed of course, but nevertheless she looked in the mirror next to the poster above her desk and attempted to smooth out her hair.

"Hey, Sarah, we're going on a mission."

She opened the door and tried to smile brightly when she saw Soul's serious-yet-playful expression. He was wearing his new outfit they'd bought from _Dark Angel._ A neon orange shirt with dark green skinny jeans, leather jacket, and a black version of Soul's original headband.

"According to Maka, this mission looks tough, so we could use some backup in addition to Crona, so..."

Sarah turned her attention to the boy staring blankly at the glimmering television in the living room. "Danny?" The boy flinched and turned around. After he had recovered, Maka also insisted on him living with them as well. They usually used the fourth bedroom as a kind of storage facility for random crap, so all they had to do was haul it all out, organize things, put the rest in the mostly empty attic, and place a bed in the empty room.

"Otōto chan, will you be alright staying here alone?"

He looked a bit broken up after the question. "Why can't I come? Don't you wanna be my new Meister, Ane?" His eyes were two solemnly blank pools of crystal blue water.

"Daniel..." warned his sister. "It'll be dangerous."

"But W-will and I always went on real dangerous missions before he took me away. He was a Two-Star Meister."

Sarah frowned at the mention of William. "Yes," she said. "And I'm only a One-Star, Danny. I might not be able to protect you."

"But Ane~!" he pouted. "You're strong enough." It was obvious that he believed in her strength, but she on the other hand was not so confident in her ability to protect the youngster.

"Look Danny, no." She sighed in anger and annoyance. "Can you stay by yourself or not?"

Reluctantly he nodded.

"Was that so hard?" Sarah looked to her friend. "Yeah Soul, I can go."

"Ok," said Soul, nodding. "We can meet up with Maka at Crona's so we can all go." He grabbed the keys to his motorcycle and Sarah put on her long, purple version of Maka's coat. She looked at the still sulking eleven-year old and grinned.

"I'll call Liz, Patty, and Kid-chan to baby-sit," added Sarah thoughtfully.

"Baby-sit?" Whined Daniel, feeling betrayed. "I thought I could stay by myself," he muttered. _I knew she'd pull something like this. _He folded his arms and scowled.

"If you're hungry, I already left you money for lunch. And when you're bored you can read my books or watch my anime, just don't scratch up the discs." Sarah slipped on her boots. "Or you can play my keyboard or guitar, just don't break um', kay?"

"He can even play _my piano_," added Soul, "that is, if he _wants_." He shrugged and pulled on his leather jacket, turning to the door to leave.

Daniel simply nodded, scratching his ginger head of hair in embarrassment. They were sharing their stuff with him so freely; it wasn't something he was used to. When they finally did leave, he went into his big sister's room and emerged with the Alvarez. He sat in silence on the couch, staring at the instrument. Danny held his older sister's guitar in his lap, strumming random chords and waiting until his new babysitters arrived.

Kid opened the door with the key Sarah had dropped off. Liz and Patty tried to squeeze past him.

"I wanna see the cute wittle boy!" squeaked Patty.

"Wait _your turn_!" roared Liz, scolding the younger twin, but trying to get past her as well.

Daniel attempted his best, friendliest smile. "Hi," said Daniel a bit shyly.

"Hello," said Kid, nodding cordially. "Are you Daniel?"

Daniel looked at Kid's golden eyes and unusual hair markings. "Are you who Ane-chama calls Kid-chan? Lord Death's son?" He'd seen the ancient Shinigami, but Danny was never really cognizant of Kid's presence. At the Christmas Eve Ball, he was so sleepy by that time at night that he had fallen asleep before Death the Kid was to give his subsequently interrupted speech. Of course, it was only half an hour later that he was shaken awake, ordered to transform, and he and William never saw Shibusen until a couple days ago. However, things seemed to be looking up from that less than spectacular night, and the son of Lord Death was being just as nice as his Ane and the rest of his new friends. Daniel held up one of his arms, fingers spread childishly to shake Kid's hand as well.

"I'm Liz," she shook the boy's hand, long brown hair falling over her shoulders in a soft waterfall.

Patty took Daniel's hand and shook it with both of hers. "Patty is ME! Oinky-oink!"

"Yes, 'Death the Kid', Th-that's me," said Kid nervously before formally taking the boys free hand. His left palm rest on the guitar as it hung from his shoulder by its red leather strap. "Death the Kid."

Daniel relaxed his shoulders and a genuine smile spread over his face. "I'm Daniel Albarn. I'm a Demon Scythe," he said. "I'm gonna be a Death Scythe one day!"

Liz stifled a giggle, but eventually it slipped out, making a chain reaction. The teenagers laughed at the innocent statement, and Daniel joined in.

….

Meanwhile, Maka, Sarah, and Soul walked down the long, straight hallway of Death Manor and stopped at Crona's door. The Albarn Cousins knocked.

"C-come in," said a soft voice.

With a slight push, Sarah opened the heavy door. It swung open with a slight _squick_ to reveal Crona sitting on his bed. "Crona-kun!" she said, arm and arm locked with her cousin Maka. "You ready?"

"Time to go on the mission!" said Maka. Both girls smiled at the socially-awkward boy. Soul stood on the side, his hands in his pockets.

"U-uh huh," said Crona, nodding once. The girls giggled simultaneously, showing a pair of identical toothy smiles.

…

-cue Papermoon-

Asura's bandages chase a small black puppy and cat, followed by the Mizune mice, and Eruka as a frog. The bandages arc across the screen as (the name if this spin-off series were made) Soul Eater: Noir Ange (I know, corny, right? But this is for fun!) Flashes across the screen, Excalibur strutting across ridiculously as it appears.

-_I'M FALLING, DOWN INTO MY SHADOW-_

A composite shot: Sarah, covered in bandages, surrounded by fluttering black feathers and dressed in a hospital gown. Next to that image, a drop of black plunges into the water, making it dark purple.

-_iki wo hisomete_-

Three scythes fall into the water, the first one with a bone white handle that looks like Spirit's, but has a purple and black blade. The second a completely grey scythe, and the last is Soul.

-_Matteiru DEADLY NIGHT_-

A bottom view of Maka and Sarah, who are holding hands. A close up of them grasping for air.

-_DON'T SCARY kimi ga nozomeba_-

Deep red roses and white calla lily petals bubble across the screen, and goes to the surface of water again, where a black rose petal falls and blurs the smiling image of Ferra and Chad, where you see Arachne's eye reflected over the rippling water.

_-Donna sekai mo-_

Arachne appears fully, sitting on her spiderweb, a fan across her face.

-_Sono te ni tsukameru kara_-

Mosquito, Giriko, Kim's mother, and Mifune with Angela cut across the screen briefly.

-_SEE YOU IN YOUR DREAMS_-

Nygus, Sid, then the Death Scythes Marie, Justin and Azusa appear briefly as well.

-_YEAH, BABY_-

BJ also appears, smiling with a cup of "rumba" coffee, a skull of smoke fades in and out. Then showing an almost completely mad Stein.

-_kowai yume da to shitemo_-

Fade to the where the two "Black Rooms" (this will soon be explained) meet, candles with alternating blue and red flames abound. A girl that looks like Sarah sits next to the red devil; the screen is suddenly split in half roughly, the camera circles around Soul and his piano, and Sarah and her guitar likewise. Close up on their eyes, one red one purple, and then on their hands when they play the same chord, C# minor, wavelengths crackling.

-_FAIRY BLUE_-

Maka twirls a completely grey scythe, blocking attacks.

-_Kimi no tame ni, hoshi wo kudaki_-

Slightly below her, Sarah does likewise, but the exact scythe she uses is obscured. Kid appears, attacking with Liz and Patty. And Black*Star as well, using the enchanted sword mode. All four rush upon the Kishin, who blows them backwards with a single attack.

-_Kazaritsuketa_-

An image of a sobbing Crona being pat on the back by a bloody Daniel.

-_BLACK PAPER MOON_-

Tsubaki, Liz and Patty all stand on the same ledge, hair blown back by the wind.

-_Shinjite kureta nara!_-

A brief shot of Ox, Harvar, Kim, Jackie, Kilik, and Pot o' fire and Pot o' Thunder.

-_WHEN YOU'RE, LOST, "HERE"_-

Sarah loses his grip on Soul and Maka, who fall away into darkness. Medusa smiles in her prison cell.

-_I AM... "FOREVER" WITH YOUR SOUL_-

The mirror reflecting Shinigami and Spirit cracks, and then shows the face of a young, crying Sarah, her face smeared with blood.

-_Miagereba kagayaku tsuki no youni_-

Wes sighs while playing his violin, then switch to Soul grieving over a dead Maka and Sarah, sweeping up to see the laughing moon with blood dripping out its mouth and then the whole city.

-end opening theme-

. . .

-Chez Republic-

Maka looked around. "So this is Luthe village," she wondered aloud. "They sure do have a lot of chimneys"

"That's because they make so many golems here. There's probably one in every house." Soul kicked a pebble in front of him about two inches to the left.

"That's," said Sarah, "um, interesting..." she was looking at the little golems on the side of the street for sale. Their heads bobbed like those plastic bobble heads.

_Not cute at all..._decided Sarah. Ragnarök popped out of Crona's back. _Awww, now __**that's**__ cute, _she thought when she saw Ragnarök for what seems the first time. _What is it I wonder? Could it be Crona's Weapon partner? It's so cute!_

"Gyahaha!" said Ragnarök. _Cute laugh!_"Now, let's eat us some souls!" _Cute voice! Wait... _she thought for a second. _Did it just say "Eat us some souls?" _Sarah fumed silently as a frown began to form._...That's not proper GRAMMAR!_

Crona grimaced. "That's not how we operate anymore," he explained to the Weapon calmly. "Now that we're students of the academy, we're going to do things differently."

A fairly large golem walked past the kids, the earth trembling a bit.

" I wonder where this 'berserk golem' that we came to find is hiding?" Sarah scanned the area and found nothing.

Maka nodded. "I'll ask the villagers for details." She ran off, leaving the three smothered in an awkward silence. Soul decided to break the quiet, telling Crona and Sarah about the Enchanters and how they constructed golems with those large brown gloves they wore. The two stared blankly when he finished, Sarah nodding her head like one of the little golems she saw earlier.

"But—I can't say they look all that happy to see us in their village," she observed. "Or is that just me?"

"I kinda get what you mean—," began Soul.

"Guys, hey guys!" Interrupting, Maka ran up to her friends. "No one I asked knows anything about it. They're hiding something, I know it."

Suddenly a friendly new voice cut into their conversation.

"Hello newcomers." The students saw an enchanter. His spiky hair was sticking up at strange angle, and he wore what seemed to be a pair of spectacles. "I'm guessing you're here because you heard about our little incident. You're looking for the golem that's gone berserk." He waved a friendly hand and smiled. "My name's Giriko. I'm an enchanter. I'll show you the way if you follow me."

The phrase, "_Never talk to strangers,"_ somehow wound its way into Sarah's mind.

Suspicious, Soul stared at the man.

_[rrrrrrr...]_

"Hey," she whispered to Soul. "You hear something weird?"

"What? No. Why?"

"Oh," her eyes fell to the ground. "Nothing."

. . .

-Patchwork Laboratory-

Stein stared at the computer screen, a blank expression glazed over his features. He could hear the keyboard's keys click and snap, yet he knew that he himself was not typing. Red eyes opened and closed within his field of vision, boring holes in his ever-crumbling sanity. _How long,_ he thought, hovering above his slipping mind. _Can I be able to teach properly?_ A gentle hand rested on his shoulder.

"Stein, hey," said his new partner.

He turned around. "Marie."

She smiled at him with her one good eye and gave a silly little giggle.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he adjusted his glasses. "I'm fine. What so you need?"

"Oh," she put down the brown bag of groceries on the table and unpacked the goods. "It's a message from Lord Death; it's about that old golem in Luthe village. Apparently it's gone berserk." Marie took out a container of Folgers. "I'll make us some coffee if that's alright. Do you have any cups?"

"Use those over there."

She saw where he was pointing and scrunched her brow in confusion. "You want me to put the coffee in a beaker?" Marie stared at the Bunsen burner, the flame licking the bottom of the beaker's glass as the coffee slowly heated up. "Um, I almost forgot to tell you Stein..." She dug around in the bag and pulled out an envelope with stiches drawn all over it, handing it to Stein. "It's from that new student Sarah Albarn. She wanted me to give this to you for some reason."

The professor looked at it carefully. On the outside it said: "To: Dr. Franken Stein" with a sticker of a screw next to it. He opened the envelope and peeked inside, his olive green eyes widening in surprise. Out he pulled a mostly grey and black card that also had stiches drawn on it, fully-colored hand-drawn pictures on the back and front.

The front picture was of Maka, Sarah and Soul, drawn in chibi-form, the border was Soul's weapon form repeated over and over. The back picture was of Stein and Spirit also in chibi, Stein smiled sinisterly, holding a scalpel in one hand and Spirit in weapon form in the other. Spirit's face was on the blade, looking concerned. Stein laughed at the cute pictures and opened the card. Another picture was on the left. Yet another chibi-type picture, but this time it was of Sarah and him hugging. She had her hair down, and Stein was laughing, his mouth stretched into a sincere smile. They were both wearing matching labcoats. Stein grinned at this last picture and read the message on the right aloud. Marie perked her ears up in interest.

"_Dear Papa Stein," _he read. "_Thank you so very much for sending my things from my old house over. I really am grateful that you adopted me. Can we have another dissection lab soon? It was really fun! You're the best, smartest papa ever. I hope you have a good day, and I love you!_" Sarah had signed her name, and then drew a smiley face and heart next to it. "_P.S You should stop smoking, it's bad for your lungs and I don't want you to die from cancer. I asked Ms. Marie to buy nicotine patches instead of cigarettes for you, I told her you were quitting. Love ya!_"

Stein laughed again. _What a weird girl, _he thought to himself, scratching his chin_. She's an interesting subject indeed._

"Aw~" said Marie, when he finished reading. "That's too cute! I didn't know you adopted her!" _Though I had no idea the poor girl was an orphan either._ "Stein you do have a heart," she teased. "I knew it."

With a slight frown at the comment, Stein wrinkled his nose at Marie. "By any chance, did you happen to buy those patches?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

_She actually believed I was quitting, _thought Stein with a groan. _Grrr..._ He was going to miss his precious cigarettes. Maybe he should dissect Sarah as punishment? _Nah... _He decided against that, at least for the moment.

. . .

Patty and Liz clapped on beat with the guitar, singing along as Daniel strummed a few awkward bars of "What I like About You" by Ramones. Kid smiled as well, tapping his foot to the music. When Daniel was satisfied with the song and finished up with the last few notes, Liz spoke up.

"Hey, Danny, who taught you to play?"

"My big sis'," he said, putting the guitar down gently on the couch next to him.

"You mean Sarah plays guitar?" asked Kid.

"Yeah," he replied matter-o-factly, "and violin and piano and drums as well..."

"That's a lot," remarked Kid with a far off look. "Me, I only play viola, and drabble some in piano."

"Yeah, I'm not that talented at much. I'm not so good at the fiddle except for one song."

"Oh? What's that?" asked Patty.

"_The Devil Came Down To Georgia,_" he said immediately, His face lit up. "Wanna hear?"

"Sure," said Liz.

"Why not?" said Kid, leaning back into the couch.

"Music, yeah!" Patty yelled.

"Wait here," Daniel said. He jogged to his sister's room. Now, he remembered her saying he could play her guitar and keyboard, but nothing else. Would she mind if he borrowed her violin? In her closet, under some pile of pumpkin panties (Icky! Icky! Icky!) he found the violin case and went back outside.

"I'm kind of out of practice, so bear with me."

"Hey, Danny," said Liz, looking hopeful. "I know this song too, can I sing along?"

"Uh, sure."

Patty and Kid exchanged uneasy looks.

"You mind if I use the guitar a bit?"

"It's Sarah's but she prob'ly won't mind."

Liz looked down at the guitar. Ever since she and Patty had begun living with Kid, he suggested they become more "well-rounded" and paid for them to have music lessons. Liz's vocals needed...work, but she was pretty good at guitar, though acoustic was more her style. She count off the beat and began playing. Daniel brought the solid black violin to his chin and followed along. Liz smiled and started to sing, laughing inwardly at how the lyrics sorta-kinda related to their line of work:

"_The devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal.  
He was in a bind 'cos he was way behind: he was willin' to make a deal.  
When he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot.  
And the devil jumped upon a hickory stump and said: "Boy let me tell you what:  
'I bet you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player too.'  
'And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you.'  
'Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due:  
'I bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, 'cos I think I'm better than you.'  
The boy said: 'My name's Johnny and it might be a sin,  
'But I'll take your bet, you're gonna regret, 'cos I'm the best that's ever been.'"_

It was in the chorus where Daniel's playing truly shined, the bow going over the instrument so swiftly it made Patty and Kid stare in amazement. In fact, he played it so skillfully they though he was lying before when he had said he didn't really play.

"_Johnny you rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard.  
'Cos hells broke loose in Georgia and the devil deals the cards.  
And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold.  
But if you lose, the devil gets your soul."_

Liz ran off a few more verses, and near to the end of the middle of the second violin solo, they all heard a little _pop! _and the music suddenly stopped. Daniel looked down and cursed silently. That damned E string was always breaking on him.

"Ane-chama's gonna be so pissed off..."

"We can fix it, right Kid?" Liz looked to the Shinigami boy, who closed his golden eyes and sighed.

"Do you have an extra string?"

The boys searched everywhere, but found none.

"No," Daniel said hopelessly, his face in his hands. "I'm sorry.."

"No worries," said Kid, whipping out a solid white cell phone. "I'll just call the shop I get my viola adjusted. They'd be more than happy to help."

Daniel looked heavenwards and sighed in relief. "Thank you Kid-niichan."

Kid lifted the phone to his ear. "It's nothing, really." he winked at the boy and grinned, a "shhh" finger over his mouth. "Don't worry about your sister knowing. It'll be our little secret, huh, otōtosan?"

Danny smiled and nodded awkwardly. "Uh, yeah."

_[RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...]_

"Why are you two getting so angry with him?" Maka looked to Soul with an accusing look. Sarah held her ear. That same noise again. It was growing louder.

"He never said anything like that," she continued.

_[RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...]_

"Not in so many words, maybe," Soul replied, "but that's what they're thinking..."

_[RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...]_

"The truth is we wanna live in peace and quiet. We don't like when strangers come to our village." Giriko smiled darkly. "In the end everyone is the same, we all have evil inside us. Everyone who wears a mask of 'goodness' can have pitch darkness in his heart you see."

A giant, shaking rumble reverberated around them all.

_[RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...RrrrRrrrrRrrrRr...!]_

Maka blanched. "What was that?"

"I'll spoil the surprise if I tell you," said Giriko. The golem appeared, its thundering steps like a mini earthquake. It roared softly, opening it's wide semi-circle of a mouth. "I guess there's no hiding it now—surprise."

"Soul, Sarah, Crona, heads up."

"_Right,_" they all said. Maka held out her weapon in front of her, but paused. "Impossible...Sarah do you see it?"

"That's crazy..." continued Sarah, also staring.

"What's up guys?" asked Soul.

"Golems aren't supposed to be alive are they?" asked Sarah, uncertainty almost choking her words off.

"But," said Maka. "We're sensing a soul wavelength coming from that thing."

"I take it you both are young Meisters." Giriko smirked at the group of students. "Looks as if you've figured it out." He turned his back on the children and looked at the golem in all 10 feet of its towering glory. "I've been waiting for this for over 800 years. I've lived out 30 boring lives."

"800 years?" asked Maka.

"The idea was to store up enough strength to take on Death and the DWMA, but that's all over now." He turned to face them again. "You children should start saying your goodbyes." Still smiling, he began to transform, parts of him pixilating way, revealing masses of gears.

_[RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!]_

_His soul,_ thought Sarah fearfully, eyes wide and unbelieving. _I think I can __**hear**__ it!_

"You see. I don't need a Meister, but this golem I created will do just fine." In a matter of seconds the golem was holding a vicious-looking chainsaw.

"This guy's a Weapon?" said Soul.

"And his golem has a soul," stated Maka.

"What _else_ is wrong with this village?"

The golem swung at Maka, but she simply moved to the side, the chainsaw smashed the concrete where the girl once stood. Maka nodded to Sarah.

"Give up your attack," said Maka, " and turn back now."

"If you continue to fight with us," said Sarah.

"We'll take your soul." finished Maka.

"Got it?" asked both girls in unison.

Giriko's smirking face reflected in the chainsaw's blade. "My engine isn't even running yet!" he laughed. With a pull of the starter from the golem, his engine rattled to life with a sickening, almost rusty sound. Maka and Sarah were pushed back by the enormous shock wave.

"His wavelength," said Sarah, "sounds distorted. It's full of blood-lust."

_Sounds?_ thought Maka in confusion, not hearing the man's next words.

"Boring, empty CRAP!" was all she caught, while dodging the next flurry of swings from the slightly sluggish golem. Sarah stuck it's side with her fists with some reasonable effect, but was thrown away like a rag doll by a thrust of its free arm.

"We can't even get close," said Sarah as she landed next to Maka, wiping the sweat from her brow. "We need an opening." She frowned and turned to the swordsman, who was standing off on the side doing nothing. "Crona, help us!"

"That's right!" said Maka. She realized something important they'd forgotten. "Your Screech Alpha could give us what we need edge-wise."

Ragnarök popped out of Crona's back again and growled. "You can't make us! Not even for three pieces of candy!"

"Fine," said Maka, her sage eyes pleading. "Four, then."

"No," said Ragnarök. Sarah pushed her cousin out of the way of the next attack, and slipped under the saw's radar. "Eight!" yelled Maka, as she grit her teeth, fuming. The black weapon pound his little white fists on Crona's head. "It's not a matter of number!"

"As many as you want!" Sarah conceded, scowling as almost two centimeters of her hair was chopped off on one pigtail. _Damn, _she thought. _Kid'll go ballistic._

"Whaaat~?" said Ragnarök, thrilled. He jumped in between the girls and the golem's attack just in time. "You both drive a hard bargain!"

"Speed setting one, and he's not ripped in half?"

"Don't underestimate my black blood, you ass!" said Ragnarök with indignation and pushed back the Golem and it stumbled backwards.

Crona's eyes shifted from navy to sky blue. "If you're upset, why don't you write a poem? Ready guys?"

"Yes!"

"Go, dark sword, Screech Alpha!" The dark attack ripped up the ground and hit the golem, sending it off balance. Maka and Sarah were right behind the attack, each on opposite sides. Maka sliced through part of the thick body and landed three feet away. _Too hard, _she thought.

"Don't push your luck," said Soul. "Back away!"

"I can keep going, I'm not going anywhere!" Out of the slash blossomed several pale, translucent strings that dissipated after breezing past Maka. Sarah swung her foot into the golem's gut, which made it teeter before it finally fell. Suddenly paralyzed, Maka remained where she stood. Soul sensed his Meister's cessation of movement. "Maka, what's wrong?"

"My body.. I can't move..."

"Time to chop you up!" said Giriko, as the golem got up and the chainsaw's blade came toward Maka. Crona blocked the attack, but was quickly thrown aside, slamming into Maka and Soul and colliding with brick. Maka limply fell to the ground unable to move and Soul transformed.

"It's like I'm frozen," muttered Maka. "Dammit."

"This is not good..." said Soul. "What do I do?" he asked, propping her up. His hands were coated in a strange substance when he did. "Thread?"

"Ane! Soul! Crona!" Sarah avoided the blade again by ducking and jumped, kicking the golem in the face. It wavered once more but did not fall. It lumbered over to the defenseless pair.

"Leave me Soul, run. Save yourself."

"No, Maka."

_Soul! Maka! _Sarah's throat was gripped with anxiety, she sprinted over and leapt in front of the chainsaw before it chopped both to shreds. Maka and Soul watched in horror as Sarah blocked Giriko's revolving blade with her own arm. Crona, Maka, and Soul all gasped when Sarah held up against the attack for a while, and with a massive swinging kick on the side of the weapon, sent him skittering away.

"Sarah," said Soul. He gulped. "y-your arm."

"It's bleeding," Maka observed. "It's—,"

Trembling slightly, Sarah lifted her arm and shook the excess drops of already clotting blood. With a wince she looked to her friends, eyes the same color as the blood.

"I know." Sarah frowned. "It's purple."

"Sarah!" said Soul.

"Don't worry, it's just a scratch."

"Watch out!" yelled Maka.

Her teeth ground together. "AHHHH! Soul Slash!" she yelled, her wavelength already charged. "Multiply!" Several deep gashes appeared in the golem as more thread shot out. _Crap._ Too late to dodge the strings. Her feet froze in place below her and the golem collapsed into a heap. "I, can't move either..." It was then she heard something bizarre; she _saw_ something bizarre. Several dark shapes scurried to the golem, while Sarah swore she faintly heard harpsichord. The black shapes mounded on the golem, flowing in and out of its remains.

"So the spiders finally have gathered." Giriko suddenly transformed. "It's finally begun. I've been waiting for this."

[The murmurings of French and the harpsichord were growing louder.]

"A spider?" she heard Maka say in shock. Sarah grimaced in pain. The wavelength was growing to unbearable volume.

"The Kishin has been revived," said Giriko. "Its madness runs throughout the world. While you were sleeping, the world suddenly became a fantastic place to live."

Out of the mass of spiders a hand emerged, then another, the darkness melting into smooth, alabaster flesh. "Right? Arachne?" In under a minute they formed a woman. Her black hair fell in two long bangs over her face, the back tied into a bun near the top of her head, and she wore dangling earrings shaped like spiders. Crona backed up one step and began to tremble as did Sarah shake inwardly. Soul swore he heard the swordsman's teeth chattering. Arachne opened her dark royal blue eyes slowly, her full red lips almost pouty. She smiled slightly as Crona said his next words.

"This this woman's wavelength," he said, shakes rattling his lanky body.

"...It's like...L-Lady Medusa," finished Sarah. "Who are you!"

"It's nice to finally meet you children," greeted the witch. "I've been looking forward to this. Maka, Soul." The two were startled she knew their names. "Last night you argued over who burnt the curry."

"How did you—," began Maka.

"It was Soul," continued Arachne. "He forgot to turn the burner off and ruined your dinner." Maka glared at the weapon. Suddenly, the witch turned her attention to Sarah. She chuckled softly to herself, a smug grin on her curvaceous red lips. "Sarah, the little orphan girl. It was you and Daniel who went out to buy Chinese food, and_, interesting. _You also keep a diary. How cute. I wonder if they know what you write in it!"

"Be quiet, you," said Sarah, itching to slap the smile off of her pale face.

"And then there's poor, neglected Crona. I know all about you _and_ Sarah from spying on my dear little sister, Medusa."

Crona's eyes widened even more, his eyes more than a bit insane. With a hysterical yell, he launched himself towards the witch, trying to attack Arachne. Luckily for her, she put the large, dark, ornate fan in front of her face, blocking the blow. It hardly took a sweat for her to move so fast, it appeared. "How disappointing." With a single forceful flip of the black fan she pushed the boy away. "For eight centuries I've been sleeping, watching this world through my precious spiders. What a very cold and boring welcome back party. _Heh. _I guess for now, I think I'll leave for somewhere nicer." Her eyebrows lifted upwards in a vague expression of Giriko!"

"Yes, Lady Arachne?"

"We'll be going now, the golem is destroyed and I'm tired."

"W-wait!" yelled Maka, but Giriko had already picked up the witch.

"See you later, runts!" he said, sticking out his tongue grotesquely, disappearing into the forest.

"They're gone," said Soul, staring after the villains incredulously.

It was only moments after their escape that Justin appeared. "Hello students!" he yelled. "I heard you were in need of assistance!" His innocent blue eyes sparkled with such bishounen pride, Sarah couldn't help but giggle when she looked upon the young Death Scythe.

"You're late!" answered Soul with a sneer of contempt, picking up Maka as they made their way to the bikes.

-Infirmary-

Maka and Sarah lay in two hospital cots, side by side. One was on the other half of the room, with Sarah near the window. She stared at her food tray blankly, stomach rumbling.

"...I can't believe we both fit in that coffin..." said Maka. "Hey! No fair, Sarah why can _you_ move?"

Sarah was attempting to lift her uninjured arm to get the grape juice on the food stand. It shook viciously but it moved at least. "Oh?" she gasped and her arm dropped. "Darn it!" Her eyes moved to Maka. "I was experimenting with my wavelength."

"R-really?" said Maka nervously. "How?"

"I had this idea to try and neutralize the magic with a bit of it. It works a little, but only if I concentrate really really hard."

"I should try too." And in a few minutes Maka was trying to reach for her cup with more success than Sarah.

"No fair," said Sarah, who was having a hard time concentrating. Black*Star and Kid suddenly barged in.

"SARAH!" said Kid, frantic.

"MAKA!" yelled Black*Star with their weapons, including Daniel, trailing behind.

"ANE!"

"ARE YOU OKAY?" asked all three boys. Sweatdropping, the girls sighed.

"Yeah," replied Maka. "We've figured out a way to kind of move, but it's hard. Nygus says the curse won't lift until three days at least."

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Black*Star. "I know I'll sign your faces." He whipped out a marker and scribbled his autograph on Maka's face before she could protest. He moved on to Sarah, but in a burst of adrenaline, she quickly moved her hand upwards, grazing the marker before its tip came in contact with her skin. It split into two and Black*Star backed away.

"Sarah Slash," she sighed weakly, giving Black*Star her sternest frown.

"OK, I won't sign!" he said, accidentally bumping into Soul in his retreat. Soul protested loudly, and he and Black*Star begun to argue about 'personal space' issues. Watching the argument, Maka rolled her eyes, as did Kid and Sarah.

"Um, Kid-kun?" asked Sarah.

"Yes?" he tried to ignore the fact that one side of her hair was a bit shorter than the other by a significant margin.

She looked at him with a doe eyed stare and pouted, knowing that he couldn't resist once she told him the complaint. "I can't sleep; the shelf in front of me isn't symmetrical."

Kid looked to the shelf across the way from her bed and gasped in horror. "Oh my!" said Kid, dismay making his voice squeak. "I understand_ completely_, it looks absolutely dreadful! Let me fix it." Sarah giggled as a very serious Kid tried to arrange several items on the shelves in a symmetrical fashion. He scurried to and fro from the supply room and back to try and correct the horrible wrong that was asymmetry. "We need one more jar of cotton over here, Nygus!" yelled the boy. "STAT!" Liz and Patty covered their mouths, stifling the hysteria.

Over the next few hours a few more people came in to visit them. (Excluding Spirit, for he was banned from their room upon request.) Nearing almost ten, Soul was still trying to feed Maka, but she was refusing.

"Ahhh," droned Soul as if he were feeding a baby.

"No, it's embarrassing," complained the Meister. "Feed Sarah instead. I'm not hungry."

"Fine." He then turned to Sarah. "Ahhh," repeated Soul, lifting the spoon. Blushing, Sarah accepted the spoonful of food obediently and chewed.

"Uh...th-tha-than—," she sputtered in between hurried bites.

"You're welcome," said Soul, grinning fiercely at the ultra-cute reaction. He could see that the cousins were both a little stubborn in their own way, but one thing he knew was that Sarah would never pass up a meal-even if it was embarrassing if it was fed to her. Soul raised the spoon again and she took another bite. Trying to convey her anger at his forwardness, the little girl simply glared, which gave him the creepy feeling that he was going to pay for passing the boundary of him liking this scene of vulnerability too much.

"Hey guys," said Black*Star knocking the door as he came back into the room. "Just wanted to say hi again." He held out a piece of candy wrapped in cellophane. "Here Maka."

"Candy?" Soul accepted the gift for her. "But where did—?"

"Yeah, it's some sweet candy from a sweet old samurai." And with that lone, and out-of-characteristically calm, statement, he left.

"Where's _my_ candy?" asked Sarah sadly as Soul unwrapped the unexpected present and gave Maka the candy.

"It's salty, not sweet," griped Maka under her breath as she chewed.

"Oh, well..." began Soul digging in the lunch bag. "Here's a strawberry," he said lifting it up and taking off the green top. "You like 'em right?" Sarah stared at his eyes for a full ten seconds before mumbling "yeah."

"Ahhh," said Soul, feeding her the fruit. She blushed deeply as she ate it, Soul's fingertip lingering on her lips a bit too long before he withdrew his hand swiftly and blushed himself.

"Th-th-th—," she said after munching on the sweet fruit, but the rest of the sentence died in her mind, nothing sounding right.

"No problem," he replied, looking away. Somehow he found his eyes wandering to the food tray, where Sarah's grape juice remained untouched. _You know what happens now, _said the red devil, _right, Soul? _Something moving in the darkness of the beverage in the plastic cup seemed to hold all of his attention so easily.

_It'll soon be time for your recital... _whispered an unknown voice in his mind that frightened him down to his core.


	7. Chapter 6

**HEY, CH 6 IS NOW COMPLETE! I CHANGED SOME PARTS... GOLD STARS FOR THOSE WHO FIND THEM!**

**Our Story So Far...: **Sarah, blah blah blah, may be more special than they realize, blah blah blah, saved their butts from the golem...oh and Arachnae has revived... And I've changed the rating from M because nothing "bad" really happens except for fighting, blood, and the occasional curse, so yeah...

**Mal: **Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?  
**Zoe: **Big damn heroes, sir!  
**Mal: **Ain't we just?  
—_Firefly_, "Safe"

* * *

***Sniggers* just HAD to put that out there. **

**So: **Can you or Sarah be _serious_ for once?

_**Oh, you're one to talk, Soul!**_

**So: **What's that supposed to mean?

_**Just ask **Maka **what I mean.**_

**So: **(irritated) You're not making any sense!

_**Well you should stop being such a **tease **when I'm trying to chat on Facebook!**_

**So: **(blushes) Hey, I thought you wouldn't tell anyone about...

**(_face heating up) Um, sorry, kind of slipped out._**

**So: **No more talk of what we do, okay?

_**What **we **do? But I didn't do anything and...you... just left me with that kiss still—**_

**So:**(panics) DON'T SPREAD PRIVATE BUSINESS AROUND!

_**Fine. (sigh) Can we talk about it later, then?**_

**So: **Sure, (looks over shoulder) just not here, it's too open.

_**You sound like we're selling drugs or something...What about at Ruby Tuesday's?**_

**So: **What am I made out of, money?

**._... (raises eyebrow)_**

**So:**(facepalms) Oh, right, I forget I'm rich sometimes.

_**(smiles and sweatdrops) Yeah, sure you do.**_

**Ma: **(stares at us) Um...a sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body?

* * *

Chapter 6: Duel Arts Lesson ! - The converging wavelength of four souls? 

"Now, Sarah and Soul, Maka and Daniel, I want you to try this exercise." Stein made them all sit facing each other in that same dark room Soul and Maka had sat once before.  
"I don't see the point." said Soul. He was looking evenly at the floor, tracing invisible paths in the warped concrete.  
"Papa Stein, my knees hurt~" announced Sarah, looking down, away from Souls eyes.  
"That's what she said..." he muttered.

Her head snapped up. "You just be quiet..." Sarah drew circles on the ground with a single wandering fingertip. "Papa Stein what are we doing here?"  
"Maybe Soul should explain."  
"It smells in here," Daniel offhandedly replied, observing the several rows of burning candles.  
"We're supposed to insult each other," said Maka, rolling her eyes. "Me and Soul've done this before."  
"Oh. I don't really like insulting people I like," said Sarah with a resigned sigh, "but okay. I'll start. What should I say?"  
"Stop being indecisive and hurry up!" said Soul, the candles finally getting to him.  
"Don't yell at me!" she screamed in shock.  
"I'll yell at you if I want!" said Soul defiantly, reveling in his announcement and crossing his arms. A swift hand came down near his thigh, and a few short white hairs fluttered to the ground.  
"What was that?" asked Sarah, her face darkening.

Soul gulped and tried to not stare into her eyes too long. "Y-you're impulsive just like your cousin!" He thrust a finger in Maka's direction, and Maka narrowed her eyes at him, an indication that she was definitely not amused. Sarah sneered, and pointed to Soul as well.

"And _you're_ just like Sempai who rejected me!" No one understood what she meant, but they continued to argue. Daniel remained quiet, the candles had zero effect on the calm little boy.  
"Sarah's not impulsive soul! If anyone is, you are!" Maka pounded her palms on the floor below. "Besides, I just get angry a lot!"  
"Oh, _shut up_! _You've_ got fat ankles and a flat chest, Maka!" Leave it to Soul to bring up such a thing... Maka felt her face reddening in more than just anger and embarrassment.  
"No, you shut up, Soul. At least I don't get _nosebleeds_ all the time!"  
Sarah glared at the both of them, her voice filled with disgust at the childish display in front of her. "You _both_ need to learn how to _grow up!_"  
Both of their heads snapped around to glare at Sarah in full force. "This coming from someone who watches _cartoons_ all the time!" Soul retorted. Oh, he struck a sensitive nerve there.  
"Take it back, you jerk!" Sarah's eyes began to water. "Anime is _not _childish!"

"I won't, you can't make me!" refused Soul, his mouth pouting. "And it is!"  
"Oh-Oh yeah? Well, _you're_ an albino freak!"  
"_You_ pick the lamest anime songs!"  
"You're a sulky little snot!"

"Your music is worthless and you're worthless!" said Soul, trumping all other insults.  
Sarah blinked away tears as an angry blush rose to her cheeks as she stared downwards again."...that hurt," she whispered in a low voice.  
Immediately, Soul felt remorse for what he just said. "I-I'm sorry.. I don't know why I'm acting so mean."  
"Maybe you should clarify some more about your past.." said Maka suddenly calming down as well. "Why is it I remember William and not Sarah?"  
"'Cause I'm not a memorable person.." replied Sarah in a hollow voice.  
The white-haired youth nearly rolled his eyes, but decided against that. "Sarah..." he said, annoyance coating his voice again.  
She was getting angry at herself now..Sarah clenched her hands into fists then released them slowly, flexing the fingers lightly, wondering if she was hallucinating again. "My brother wants to kill me, my parents are dead, and no one remembers me... Figures." Many memories of long past had already resurfaced, but she was too afraid to tell them about most of what she could recall.  
Soul frowned. "See, that's another one of your problems. You beat yourself up too much. How do you expect to move forward if you're always putting yourself down!"

"But!"

"Have just a little confidence, will ya?

"Okay then..."she agreed. "B-but it's not like I'm doing that because _you_ said so...stupid Soul..."

He only smirked and wiped the drool from his lower lip, taking in the stubborn face she had put on. At that moment she looked very much like Maka indeed; more like a sister than a cousin.

"Here," said Soul, holding out his hands so they could practice resonance once again. Sarah nodded, placing her dark hands upon his pale, outstretched palms. Maka grinned as she put her hands upon Danny's, watching the two ever so often from the corner of her eye...and so their extra lessons began on a better note than before, their wavelengths vibrating very closely together, humming. Like a melody.

**In class the next day**

"Maka, Sarah, how does it feel after coming to class for the first time after so long?"

"Perfect!" said Maka, "I'm ready to tear it up." She stretched her arms and wiggled her fingers out until they felt loose and comfortable. Maka gave her cousin a smile and Sarah nodded, a content look on her face.

"Yeah, I feel great," Sarah gave the air a swift punch, and abruptly her smile turned impish. Kid and Soul shuddered. "I feel strong enough to go on a rampage!"

"Hopefully you won't destroy anything on purpose?" said Kid wistfully. The young Shinigami actually looked fearful that Sarah would go true to her word.

" I can't promise that now," said the Meister, closing her eyes. "But I do know that I want to have some fun, am I right or what?"  
"Then, do you want to come party at our place after school?" Liz suggested. Kid looked horrified and delighted all at once; on one hand: they were having a party, which would mean a mess he'd have to clean; on the other hand: Sarah and Maka were coming over. His face was having a hard time making a decision as to the emotion it wanted to display.

"Yeah! Yeah!" sang Danny and Patty, playing patty-cake in their celebration.

"Patty-Ane-chan," asked Daniel, "you think there'll be cake?" Their identical-looking sets of youthful baby blue orbs met joyfully.

"I'll make sure Kid gets us one!" responded the Demon Gun with an enthusiastic grin that lit up the entire room. "A big 'welcome back' cake for Maka and Sarah!"

"Oh, we should invite Crona too," suggested Maka, getting excited as well. But then she felt a cold sensation swimming in her heart. Maka glanced around, her eyes falling on Crona's empty seat. Where was he these days? She knew that Crona hadn't been feeling well after their last mission, and his behaviour had her a bit worried...but still...this was odd for the pinkette boy.  
"Hey, Soul?" asked Sarah. " Can you bring some music we can dance to?" Soul shrugged, he kept his voice intrigued yet complacent.

"Yeah... I'll bring a few records." He gave a thumbs up and grinned. Sarah laughed in answer to his reply. Something was missing, though, from the conversation, as much as they all didn't want to admit it.

"Hmm," said Liz, looking around. It was strangely quiet without a certain annoying someone. "Where's Black*Star?"

Tsubaki sighed and shrugged. "The usual,"she replied. "He's always like this these days... "

...Suddenly the door slid open.

"My bad... I'm late..." Black*Star strolled into the room soberly, a smug smile stretched across his face; he waved to his friends and sniffed proudly.  
"Another duel?" said Stein, he swiveled his chair to look at the hyperactive ninja. "Did you bring a witness?"

"Yeah, Marie-nee-chan," said Black*Star, thinking he had everything thought out.  
"Marie, huh?" Stein heaved a sigh."Can you at least adjust your attitude enough so you don't fall behind in your lessons?" He rubbed the nicotine patch on his arm to replace that intoxicating puff of delightful-Stein shook his head. "So who won?" His voice sounded bored beyond belief, but it was actually closer to remorse than boredom  
"I'm a man who is to transcend God! Of course _I_ won!" And in an instant Black*Star found himself standing outside the classroom door.

"Well, you're late," stated Stein, enjoying the punishment he was administering. "As punishment, stand in the hall." He slammed the door and Black*Star looked at the closed piece of oak.

_Damn it, _he thought. _How'd he slam it shut without sliding the door, huh?_  
...

"Okay," said Stein ribbing his hands together. He walked to the whiteboard and wrote on it in a smelly, black erasable EXPO marker. "As I said in homeroom this morning, I'll be teaching a new lesson starting today."

_KATSUKATSUKA_, was what the board read. "Today we'll be practicing Duel Arts." The professor turned to the class in search of victims. "Now does anybody know what that is? I believe that some of you are familiar with this already...anyone?" He poured over the blank expressions until he finally found Sarah to raise a shaky little hand. Stein pointed to his adopted daughter with glee, but kept his expression level. No need to be like his goofy Sempai Spirit...

"Yes, Sarah-chan?"

"O-Otherwise known as 'Team,' or even 'Chain' Resonance," she almost whispered.

The teacher nodded, adjusting his glasses."Correct...and would you care to tell the class what that entails?"

After almost a minute of silence passed while she leafed through the textbook pages in her head. "Basically," said Sarah more confidently this time. "Meisters ad Weapons resonate with other Meister and Weapon pairs."

Stein looked actually pleased with being a teacher. "Yes. How do you know so much, Sarah?"

"Oh," she looked down, _This seems really nerdy, _she thought. _but in my free time I've been reading all the books on Phasmology I could find in the library. _"Maka ane-chan told me!" she blurted out, lying. She pointed to her cousin accusingly, while trying to look innocent and dumb. _I did? _thought Maka, surprised. Her mouth twitched in an awkward smile.

"Well, let's get started." The professor's eyes roamed the classroom lazily. "Hmm...As there are some idiots in this class, rather than a verbal explanation, why don't we focus on practicing?

_He's looking over here~ _thought Maka nervously. _Are we the idiots he means?_

"Would the students I call please come to the front..."

_Please be me and Ane,_ thought Daniel, itching to fight. Bloodlust sprang up in his normally calm aquamarine eyes as he leaned forward. _Please be—_

"Ox-kun and Harvar, and because you've just left the hospital, let's have Maka, Soul, aaa~nd..."

_C'mon..._Danny looked almost hopeful he'd say him and his Ane-chan Sarah. He crossed his fingers and prayed. _Say me and Ane-chan..._

"Black*Star! Get back here! Oh, and Sarah as well." Danny banged his head on the table, which got him a few awkward stares from Liz and Kid. Patty and Tsubaki giggled.

"Get out, come in, make up your mind!" (**A/N:** *giggles* Why, Black*Star?) Black*Star opened the door with a loud _bang _which echoed and rippled over the room, making half the class jump in surprise.

"Since you'd destroy the lecture hall if you had a weapon, you'll be unarmed," explained the older Meister to the boy, which only got him a grimace for his troubles.

When everyone had assembled at the front Stein nodded approvingly and raised his eyebrows. "Good. Thus far, you've all matched your soul wavelengths to your partners. However, against big enemies, kids like you will only be crushed if you fight alone." Stein stood up from the chair ans smiled. "Well, maybe not all of you but you get the idea." He looked at Sarah and Black*Star specifically as he said this. "As this is the first lesson, attack seriously, as though you're trying to rip out my chest.."

"But...Papa I don't want to hurt you!" said Sarah, looking horrified. At this the class responded with a mushy _Awwww~ _that made Sarah only blush and frown from embarrassment.

"This is too sudden..." said Maka, becoming depressed. "He'll murder us..."  
"Well then... Come on!" He turned the screw until it stopped with a loud click that drove fear every student's stuttering little heart. " I'll dissect you!"  
_Scaaaarryyy~ _thought the class in unison.

...  
_Matching our "soul wavelengths" as a team.._.thought Maka uncertainly. She looked to Sarah, who was trembling a bit. With so many people in the classroom...watching, her pupils were dilated in terror.

"Sarah?" asked Soul, snapping the girl out of her uncertainty. _Go ahead and kill him, _hissed a voice dripping with malice. Sarah shook her head, trying to focus, but it was proving to be a feat...she kept on hearing these weird, demented giggles in her brain, and they were only increasing in volume and frequency within her sidetracked thoughts.

As expected, Black*Star's cry made everyone's head turn towards him. " Die! You crazy freak!" He appeared as only a flash of blue and black; Black*Star tried to punch Stein, who only ducked when the ninja brought his fist barreling towards his face. In the one motion that Black*Star missed his target, the momentum of the punch caused him to fly into the whiteboard, which only smashed it up.

"Hey, what are the other three of you doing?" said Soul, trying not to laugh at Black*Star's misguided attack. "Over analyzing the situation is bad too, you know?"

Ox and Harvar lunged at Stein as well. " I'll show you the power of the Lightning King!" yelled the nerd as lightning sparked across Harvar's staff. He tried swung, then missed, swung, missed. Stein snickered at the boys' enthusiasm, but just as easily avoided the slow jabs. Finally, Ox thought he almost had Stein right where he wanted him. Ox jabbed at the teacher, but was met by Black*Star instead, as he was on the opposite of Stein and trying to attack, the professor quickly had switched places with the boy, using him as a shield.

" Huh?" said Ox and Harvar when they connected with the entity that wasn't Stein.

" GYAAAAAAH!" exclaimed Black*Star as the lightning jarred his system. He recovered shortly though and turned on Ox. "You bastard! Ox-kun! Do you want to die!"

"You're the one who got in the way of my attack..." complained Ox lamely, as they began to duke it out verbally.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Maka were talking strategy. "Maka, let's try it!" said Sarah, her eyes flickered to the bickering boys then to Stein.

"I mean, uh..." mumbled Maka, trying to think. Leaf green eyes, looking desperately for an angle of attack that would suit them both.

"C'mon you can hear my wavelength, right?"

Maka looked confused again, like when they were in Luthe village. "Actually I can _feel_ it just fine, the hearing part? Not so much."

"You and Soul have to trust me on this..."

"...I say we try it Maka," said Soul. "Sarah's good at wavelength control, she can even attack like Stein and Black*Star."

She huffed in defeat. Two against one was never really fair when it came to arguments."Oh...fine." Maka twirled Soul around and Sarah stood with her back pressed to Maka's. Both prepared for what came next. _[G],_ thought Sarah, as she closed her eyes to concentrate.

"Soul Resonance!" the trio yelled. "AhhaHHAHHhaahhhh!"

Ox and Black*Star stopped their bickering to watch the event, astonished at the power they could now suddenly sense.

"Wait!" said Harvar, picking up the change through his partner's Soul Perception. "You can't be sensing what I think you are?"

"Amazing," yelled Ox in awe as he watched the wavelengths match up, resonating brilliantly. "How did we not notice before?"

"Notice what, egghead?" asked Black*Star, rolling his eyes, smirking.

"Sarah as two _souls,_" replied Ox, adjusting his glasses and looking in disbelief.

"Wait, what?" Black*Star's mouth formed into a twisted grimace as he looked to the girls.

* * *

From across the room, Stein smiled, his face was shadowed by his mop of thick grey hair. "Bring it on children," he taunted "Show me what your resonance link can do!" His arms were in a defensive judo position, hands ready to protect any vital points on his body. And at the peak of their resonance, there it was again in Sarah's hands, that weapon from before, that scythe. The students stood and watched the fight in awe, their mouths hanging open. Sarah gripped the white handle and breathed out, as power flowed from her and the blade as if they were one being. But the question was: Where did it come from? But really, who cared? It was there and that was that. Maka could hear the faint echoes of giggling, but shook her head of the distraction.

Then the two girls opened their eyes.

"Maka," said Sarah, holding the scythe horizontally, one hand close to the blade, while she stretched the other as far as she could make reach. When it was parallel with the floor she crouched down and nodded to her cousin who understood the plan of attack.

"Right." Maka jumped, using the blade of Sarah's weapon as a springboard.

"Papa~" sang Sarah malevolently, her eyes a solid purple. She was suddenly behind Stein, and he actually gasped, as a shudder of actual terror ran down his spine. "Surprise!" She giggled and elbowed him forward sharply. "Hya!" said Maka, delivering a slash to his chest, and immediately after, Sarah followed, her wavelength crackling along the surface of the blade.

"Soul Force Slash!" Sarah nonchalantly chimed, as the combo attack of slash and wavelength force blasted her Papa into the back wall, which crumbled upon his impact.

Slowly, with much wincing, Stein got up from the rubble. He gave them a lopsided grin and a wobbly thumbs up. "G-Good job," he said before passing out. Sarah's heart jumped and she ran over to the injured man. In an instant the resonance link was broken. Sarah shook im lightly and he came to his senses again.

"Papa Stein! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I hurt you!" She hugged his stiched face in despair and pat his wiry hair. "Papa," she muttered. "My poor Papa."

"I'm okay Sarah," he assured her in between coughs. "I _did_ after all tell you to try and rip out my chest."

In all the commotion, Marie burst into the class room, knocking down the door, yelling and breathless. She was flushed with anger and her brown eye screamed _I am mad as hell. _"What on earth is going on here?" she announced with irritation. "I was _try-ing_ to teach students about the internet and—," She spotted Sarah trying to help Stein to his feet. "STEIN!" The Death Scythe rushed over to her partner. "What happened?" Her face suddenly became furious. "Who did this?"

Stein rolled his eyes. "We were having a lesson that's all."

Marie looked to Sarah. "Do you know what happened?"

Now, Sarah scrunched her nose and squinted, hoping that she could. After she yelled "Soul Resonance" the rest of the fight was a blur. All she knew was that Papa Stein was hurt and it probably was because of her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Stein cut her off.

"I did this to myself," he explained.

"Really?" asked Marie. "How?"

"I asked the students to attack me and this is what I got."

Marie turned her eye toward the class. "You all will get punished," she threatened, "if you do this to your teacher again."

They nodded, understanding.

Kid and his friends had a hard time not cracking up as the Marie, Stein, and Sarah left the classroom.

* * *

"_The **id, **which is the repository of the **libido, **the source of our psychic energy and our psychosexual desires, gives us our **vitality**. Because it is always trying to satisfy its **hunger for pleasure**, it operates without any thought of consequences, anxiety, ethics, logic, precaution, or **morality**. Demanding swift **satisfaction** and fulfillment of **biological desires**, it is lawless, asocial, amoral. As Freud describes it, it is "only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the **instinctual needs **subject to the observance of the pleasure principle." _Sarah read this aloud with slight distaste, keeping her voice low enough so that only she could hear. In her advanced placement Phasmology course, she had to learn snippets of Psychology as well.

"_Obviously the id can be a **socially destructive force**. Unrestrained, it will **seek aggressively** to gratify its desires without any concern for law, customs, or ~values. It can even be **self-destructive** in its drive to have what it wants. In many ways It resembles the **devil** figure that appears in some theological and literary texts, because it offers **strong temptation** to take what we want without heeding normal restraints, taboos, or **consequences**._"

A devil. Now, what was so familiar about that?

Sarah thought back to the Czech Republic, their latest big mission. Or even when she had resonated with Soul to fight against William, she knew that could sense another presence within both their minds. Two that she was aware of, in fact. Sarah closed her tired brown eyes and allowed the images to form, kneading her temples to allieve her headache. She was slowly receding into deep meditation, to scope out the deep memories hidden within her brain. Maybe they were connected, somehow.

A devil. The first she was sure of. A short red devil with big eyes and two horns bent sideways. He was dressed in a sharp black pinstripe suit, and had rows of jagged teeth that looked very familiar. Sarah decided he was kinda cool-looking. He reminded her of Soul for some reason. However the second was blurred in her observation, a shadow of mystery.

Perhaps it was, a girl? The image was clearing in her head. She even looked like Sarah herself. The girl stood in a long dark purple gown with black and white ruffles lining the bottom, tuning a ruby red Fender electric. Though, her smoldering purple eyes was what set her apart from Sarah, but it what she saw only seemed to be a moving picture in her mind. The image of the girl looked up from the guitar and stared directly at Sarah.

"Hey Sarah," she said. "You wanna play?" Her mouth stretched into a Cheshire cat grin, her mouth dripping violet, the liquid pouring down her neck in a sinister waterfall...

"Aaaah!" Sarah's head sprang up from the desk in the library. Several students gawking at her strange fit. The librarian wriggled his nose in irritation, which only made his short block mustache dance. Lazily, Sarah looked at her Hello Kitty watch on her wrist and gasped, she was going to be late for Duel Arts practice with the others.

* * *

*Practice*

"Yo, professor! We're here." On cue, Black*Star and Tsubaki arrived on the scene. Tsubaki laughed nervously while Black*Star tromped ahead.

"Where's Sarah?" asked Maka. "We were supposed to meet her as well."

It seemed Stein ignored Maka's question as he asked Black*Star about the Enchanted Sword. "Have you been training using the "Soul Absorption Potion" I gave you? Once you start using it you'll be able to better receive others' soul wavelengths..."  
" Oh that," scoffed the boy. " It was bitter and annoying, so I just drank it all at once."

Stein appeared as if he was to faint. " What!" His mind was trying to wrap around the concept.  
"It made me sorta sleepy," continued Black*Star, "but I ignored it."

_What a reckless thing to do, _thought the professor, a bit of intrigue creeping onto his face._. I'm not sure whether even an average adult technician would survive if they did that. _

" No big deal! I'm a god, after all! Hyahahahaha!" Everyone tried to ignore his obnoxious laughs, but failed. Before they began, Stein made an announcement: "Any team that can't perform team soul resonance by the end of the day will be cut from my lessons." He monitored their reactions carefully. All had level expressions. "Is that understood?" They nodded, it wasn't like they had a choice _not_ to _try_. Just then Sarah arrived, panting. She had run from the library to the secondary training campus in under three minutes.

"Then begin."

"Do it properly, Black*Star," said Maka before closing her eyes.

"I do it right every time," protested the ninja before doing the same. Kid, Black*Star, and Maka had stood in a triangular formation, as Stein and Sarah stood by on the sidelines. _Let's go_, said Soul. The three Meister's souls expanded into three orbs of translucent blue taller than themselves. _Yeah_, agreed Maka. _Kid. _Her wavelength reached out towards Kid's with a tendril of light. Sarah heard the clear, wavering tone of [G] before it hit Kid's own arc of light. It blended with his sound, making it a whitish color. The tone leaped from [G] to [A] suddenly. _Maka..._.confirmed Kid with a nod. _We're resonating. So far so good... _One single beam of light shakily worked over to Black*Star. _Black*Star..._

All of a sudden Sarah heard a horrible noise, like the feedback of a guitar amp, screech over her ears. [###!] The resonance broke, giving way to silence.  
"It's no good," said Kid. " Let's go again,"

"Yeah," agreed Maka.

Again and again, the melody tried to weave itself, but each time it jumped from [G] to [A] then to Black*Star, Sarah was forced to cover her ears in pain. The last time it was the worst though, and she ended up holding onto the tree for support as she faltered. Sarah turned to Professor Stein who was also surveying the failure in disappointment.

"The cause is obvious at a glance," explained Sarah, peering into the discordant rhythms before her. Maka's clear tone was like a chiming bell, loud but "It's not _working_ because Black*Star's soul wavelength is trying too hard to take the lead...it's noise is creating a feedback that rejects them."

Stein continued to look at the struggling team. "That may be true Sarah, however aligning soul wavelengths isn't all there is to it. Yesterday, when you and Maka accomplished it, what did you feel?" Sarah was about to consider this carefully when-

"Would you do it more seriously!" Maka was arguing with Black*Star once again.

" I am," said the ninja, somewhat defensively, staring down the Scythe-Meister and wrinkling his features into a very displeased look.

"It's because you're always just doing whatever you feel like! Try to match up with us, for once!"

" Why the hell do I have to match up with a blockhead like you, huh?"

" What! You!" Maka stepped forward aggressively her hand raised to smack the attitude off his little face.

"Stop it, all of you," said a cold voice. They all looked to Sarah, who's eyes were dark with menace. "Fighting isn't going to solve anything," she said in that same cool tone of voice.

"Look," said the professor, trying to ease the tension that was evidently building in the air. "There's still a long time before the day's up... Let's, take a break. Rather than discussing it any more, I think it'd be better to go cool your heads."

" As if I could have a discussion with a guy like that..." muttered Maka, turning on her heel and stomping away.

**After the break**

"Well? What should we do?" Tsubaki asked Liz. The long-haired brunette simply shrugged and placed a hand on Patty's shoulder.

"Somehow, we're getting the picture," said Liz a bit nervously, "but..."

It was then Maka returned from the forest, her head down, almost shamefully.  
" Maka..." said Sarah and Soul together, breaking their discussion of the comparison of soul-waves to sound-waves. Black*Star took one glance at the girl and snorted haughtily. "You went to tattle-tale to the professor? Aren't you just doing whatever you feel like, too?"  
And then Maka was on him like white on snow. "You-!" She raised a furious fist towards the younger boy, but everyone knew it was futile. Without even breaking a sweat, Sarah had came in and blocked the attack. Maka looked toward her with an angry, almost betrayed look; as usual when she was angry or afraid, her pupils large against the tea green irises. Her cousin looked back, her own eyes already turning purple, the darkness clouding over them quickly. her pupils were also visible. "Ane..stop this," ordered Sarah darkly, authority ringing true in her tone. "Fighting isn't always the answer." Somehow Maka's fist slipped from Sarah's grip as she attempted another attack. This one Black*Star caught with his bare hand and with minimal effort, sent Maka crashing into the floor onto her back.  
"Uff-," grunted Maka, Black*Star's ever arrogant grin looming over her. Sarah was stunned as she watched the ordeal go down only inches from her face.

"I guess I can't say we're the same... I'd never get taken down like that..."

Kid tried to break it up. "Hey, you three... Stop it..." A firm hand gripped his left arm, and Kid looked back in surprise.

"Let them work it out," said Soul, holding the death god back. At least he had noticed that the aura around those three was dangerous at this point.

"But... Soul..." Kid stood by, scowling as he watched Maka attack Black*Star yet again, this time actually landing a punch. he shrugged away the injury as if it didn't hurt a bit. His face grew serious as little white stars replaced his pupils.

"Though it's you, Maka...if you want to continue this, you'd better ask for a duel, because I'll really want to beat the shit out of you!"  
Both of them,thought Sarah bitterly, watching Maka leave. Need a serious attitude adjustment...  
"You dumbass!" roared Maka descending the slope of the hill as she fled in tears.

Sarah's head snapped over to Black*Star. "Why are you such a jerk? You knew it'd upset her!"

"Why should I care? She was holding us back.

"No, you are! Your wavelength's tempo is too fast for us. How the hell do you expect us to keep up? This is about teamwork."

"What do you know? You don't even like me."

"That may be so, but I at least try to get along with others."

"You mean you're just a follower. Listening to orders, getting good grades like your cousin, wearing the same clothes...always following. Damn, Sarah you're just like a silly little sheep. What if you get lost? What will you do then?"

"_Lost little sheep, where are you?Alone in the clearing, alone?"_

"_Go away!"_

"_Everyone is waiting."_

"_Isn't it all your fault, dear?"_

"_Shut up!"_

"_It's your fault they died..."_

"Sh—," said Sarah, tears streaming down her face, as the new memory asserted itself."Shut UP!" He didn't even see her fist coming, though sure did feel when it connected with his thick skull, that's for sure...

"_Oof_!" said Black*Star, flying into the trees behind him, slamming into a massive oak and snapping it in half when he did.

"That idiot bastard!" wailed Sarah, running in the direction opposite Maka had gone. _Women,_ thought Soul, shaking his head. Tsubaki helped her Meister to his feet and scolded him severely before conking him on the head with her fist. Her face was flushed pink with a sort of angry frown, but it looked really out of place on the usually kind countenance..  
"OW~!" said Black*Star surprised at her reaction. "Ok, Tsubaki, OK...I learned my lesson..." he pointed to the thicket of trees. "Can you take care of it for me though?"

Glad to help, Tubaki stopped frowning, giving a kind smile before she went off in search for Maka first.

* * *

_For her, it was turning out to be the worst night since forever..._

_One by one all the other students had walked over to that same judge of character, spoke in that same language of dancing fingers, and left with meager applause. _

_She looked at the sheet music in her hands. It figited as if it were hyped up on sugar, wait... no. That was only her hands shaking. The papers were clammy and warped with the sweat from her palms so she wiped them on her dark mauve gown. Everyone seemed to be buzzing around her as if she was transparent, one student after the other, taking their turn. She barely noticed, though. Her petite fingers were nervous, and so she drummed them on her thigh, practicing the piece in her head. _

_What if she messed up? What if they didn't clap for her? What if they **laughed**?_

_'YEah~ ,'said that scolding voice in her head. It echoed around, mocking the tone of her worried thoughts. 'You're only Seven...technically Eight. Today's your birthday, right? What if? What if? You worry far too much, just play the stupid song...'_

_"Really?" said the girl sardonically. "You think it's so easy? **You** play it."_

_'I never said it was easy,' responded the voice lightly. 'I simply said to let go.'_

_"I need to **control** the notes, not let them go," corrected the girl._

_'Ah, that's where you're **wrong**,' it said before falling silent._

_Silence. _

_She only realized now that the silence scared her even more than the voice did. Oh, what was she going to do? It all seemed so futile to fight the craziness that was raging forth. The girl nearly rent her papers in two trying to calm down._

_"Hey." _

_She looked up solemnly. "Wes," said the girl, identifying the thirteen -year old in front of her. "Sempai, are you up next?"_

_"Nah," he replied casually, patting his violin case with his free hand. "Violin follows after piano. Besides, I'll be up right after you...Hey did you see my little brother play?"_

_Of course she had heard him; Soul had been simply amazing with his recital piece The Evans family was full of spectacular musicians, and their youngest son was no exception when it came to piano. She nodded dumbly before Wes gave her a wink. "Break a leg," he whispered. "Oh, and..." he reached into his pocket and gave her a red, heart-shaped hair-clip. A smile bloomed in her heart as she held the beautiful item she had longed for in the store many a time. Wes fastened it in her dark curly hair and smiled. _

_A second later her name was called, and her head was put under the guillotine...The bench was unforgivably uncomfortable, but she tried to retain good posture, sitting up straight, fingers curled but relaxed..._

_'Smile,' she told herself. 'Smile...' Her serious frown remained..._

_'Play,' commanded the voice. 'Play...'_

_"Shut **up**," she muttered._

_'Are you listening to me?' it asked. 'I don't hear any music! **Play**!'_

_She knew not of what came over her. IN that single command, it was as if her mind snapped into two halves. She knew what she was playing was NOT what she practiced, that it was wrong, **beyond wrong**, nut her hands, her fingers moved on their own..._

_The first note that begun the madness...was "G#" _

_No, it was actually supposed to be "A," and the major chords had all of a sudden switched to minor, her foot even went into the insanity, using the pedals ever so freely. Every time the dampeners went up and the notes blended, it only added to the strange, dark melody blossoming below her hands at an exponential rate. The simple, light, whimsical tune...had been replaced by a moody nightmare..._

_When she was finished, the applause was deafening, but it was lost upon her swirling thoughts of bewilderment. She did not bow, she did not smile, she did not even **see** the marvellous standing ovation. As she fled the stage, the girl could not even hear Wes calling her name._

_"Sarah!" _

_And it was only a week later Medusa made a house call..._

* * *

Maka sat by herself on a ledge over-looking the city... _If only I were strong like that, not caring what happened..._, she thought glumly. From behind, there was the rustling of leaves but Maka didn't look up.  
"Is this seat taken?" Tsubaki pat the empty spot next to the blonde. Maka shook her head in the negative and continued to look at Death City as the sun shone brightly, casting rays of gold en over the entire landscape. The sunlight pooled around the light strands of her pigtails and bangs, making her face seem shadowed despite the abundance of light.  
"Hey, Tsubaki-chan... Don't you dislike being swung around like that?"  
Tsubaki sighed. How to explain this? "Maka-chan." Maka pouted as she figited in her seat uncomfortably under the shadow-weapon's kind stare. "What do you think of Black*Star?"  
"He makes me sick," said the short girl without hesitation.  
"Really?" Somehow Tsubaki thought it very amusing. "I didn't want to say anything, but you see...Black*Star may not look like it but...he studies in advance for tests..."  
Maka nearly fell off the ledge from sheer disbelief. "No way... Why does he always get zeroes, then?" Tsubaki gave a shrug of her slight shoulders and closed her eyes.

"I wonder about that myself. Though I do know for a fact that it's harder to get 0 points than to get 100. He's someone that's hard to explain, much less understand."  
Now Maka looked even more confused than ever.

"If even you can't understand Black*Star, Tsubaki-chan, there's no way I can synchronize my wavelength with his..."

"Is that really so? You two always get along so well...is it so bad for friends to misunderstand each other once in a while?"  
_"This lesson is about sensing something more fundamental..." _was what the professor had told her. Wait, why hadn't she seen it before? She was always wrapped up in her own feelings to notice things like that! How could Maka call herself the best student in her class if she couldn't understand something so simple..?_  
_"I... was in such a hurry, there was something I missed..." murmured Maka. She looked to Tsubaki, who blinked, slightly puzzled. "That's it!" Maka stood, her boots firmly planted on the ledge, a confident smile on her face, touching her eyes. Her longcoat flapped in the breeze as the wind rolled over the city, stirring the desert sand. "Tsubaki-chan, c'mon!" she said, pulling the other, much taller girl to her feet.

However over thirty seconds later it was Maka who was the one being dragged by Tsubaki. "But what kind of expression should I put on when I go back?" mewled Maka.

"Arguments happen all the time," assured Tsubaki cheerfully. Her wavelength turned mellow, calming Maka a bit. "So don't get caught up on something like that. Anyway, Sarah ran away as well, any idea where'd she go?"

Her question was answered when they heard a loud, guttural yell echo through the trees, followed by a loud crash and the snapping of wood. Both girls ran towards the source of the commotion, only to find several piles of splintered trees snapped from their bases.

"Damn~," said Maka in awe, observing the damage. In the middle of the demolished section of the forest was Sarah, sniffing as she wiped away some more tears. "Sarah!" The younger girl turned and when saw Maka, her expression softened, but when she looked around her cheeks became flushed from embarrassment.

"Ane-chama? I, um..."

There was no way to explain the trees without sounding like an insane hothead.

"Hey, we need to talk..." said Maka, walking over the felled trunks and stopping in front of Sarah, hands on her hips. " I want to know: why do you and Black*Star not get along?"

Sarah looked a taken aback by the sudden question, but surprise was replaced by fury. "How the hell should I freaking know? I don't have all these damn answers!" Maka blinked. Sarah never really cursed unless she was majorly p.o'ed, so this was really new to her.

"Well, it seems that sometimes..." began Maka again, trying not to get derailed by the sudden outburst.

"Sometimes _what_?" Sarah nearly barked, her tear-streaked face pitifully angry.

"Well—I—," Maka cleared her throat. "_Ahem_...Look Sarah, you may not like Black*Star. We get that. He gets on my nerves at times too, but...I Tsubaki told about 'learning to understand'...and I think you should come back with us..."

After thinking this over for about twenty seconds Sarah sighed and nodded, her tears ceasing."One one condition," she said so quietly Maka had to lean forward to hear. "Me and Soul get to go on a mission together later on."

Maka mulled this over a bit, mischief present in her strikingly bright eyes. That could definitely be arranged. Besides, Danny was closer to being a Death Scythe, and considering the fact that Sarah needed a partner (though technically she really didn't), Maka had a request of her own.

"Sure," said Maka, nodding at the reasonable request. "In fact, you can _have_ Soul as a partner one day _if _Danny replaces him as my weapon." She waited for the response for what seems an eon. At first Sarah's mouth twitched in what seemed to be annoyance, but it actually turned out to be in amusement. She nearly laughed herself to death right there and then, tears of mirth rolling down her cheeks. "We have a deal?" said Maka, nearly failing at not getting caught up in the hilarity herself. She held up a gloved hand. Sarah stopped laughing to look at the beige piece of leather offered out to her and wiped her face with her sleeve, a grin now on her mouth.

"Deal," agreed Sarah. "But we got to make sure the boys don't catch on...I bet they don't like being treated like objects."

"They _are_ boys, after all, that can turn into _objects_..." said Maka, cracking up as well.

Sarah bowed deeply, her hands folded across her lap as she dipped her head forward. "I'm sorry I hit you Black*Star!" she sputtered. "It's just...It brought back a memory. Gomen-nasai!"

"It's okay," he said easily, scratching his head. "A big guy like me doesn't get hurt that easily! But, um, Sarah, you know I didn't mean those things, right?"

"A-and _I'm_ sorry as well!" said Maka. "For screwing up the mood!"  
"Well then," said Stein. "It seems you've made up nicely. Going to try again?"

"Oh, Papa, can I join in as well?" said Sarah hopefully. "I think I have a way to smooth out the wavelengths clarity."  
He nodded in consent and she joined in their little formation. She stood at one end of the quadrangle, Kid to her left, Maka to her right, and Black*Star right across from her.  
_From now on we're comrades entrusting each other with our lives... _thought Maka _It's obvious that we're going to have to care about each other...  
I can feel it..._...the power of the three soul wavelengths...!

Black*Star and Kid's wavelengths matched up, the blue of their souls turning aqua colored.

...  
Sarah was in her soul, the Mahogany floorboards shining beneath her feet under the lone spotlight above her head. She was dressed in a floor-length silk gown made of various shades of violet. The top resembled a kimono, except for the sleeves, which were long and draped over her arm, but short enough that they stopped just past her elbow, white ruffles lining the bottoms of them. The rest of the dress fanned out Gothic style, layers of black lace overlaying the lolita-cut bottom. White ruffles were on the bottom of the dress as well, and she wore purple knee length converses on her feet. Around her (except for the one spotlight) it was mostly dark, but she looked around anyway. In front of her was a dark purple curtain that reached upwards as far as she could see. She yanked back the curtain, and a familiar, sarcastic weapon turned around in surprise.

"Sarah?" asked Soul. He looked to the little devil in surprise. "What is this? We're not even resonating yet!"

"Who said you weren't?" replied the devil settling comfortably into the chair he was sitting in. "You both know you have a _special_ bond."

"Soul? Where are we?" she looked at him in confusion at his own surroundings. There were black drapes everywhere, the floor was an alternating pattern of red and black marble, and a magnificently polished black grand piano stood menacingly in the corner right next to an old fashioned gramophone on a stand.

"It's a long story," he said, his rouge eyes evasive.

_The combined wavelength of Kid and Black*Star made its way over to Maka..._

"You can hear it, can't you?" said Sarah suddenly, noting the way Soul tapped his hand on his thigh. He looked at her astonished as if she had read his mind. (Though with her it was a distinct possibility.) Sarah nodded. "I can hear it as well. I can feel the beat. The soul wavelength, It's become rhythmic. That sound..It's like a chord." She closed her eyes and swayed to the sound.

"Can you really hear it too Soul?" said Sarah, her expression whimsically delighted.

Soul nodded once in agreement and smiled. "Yeah, something like that..."

" Why won't you let me help you?" said the devil, interrupting their shared moment of understanding.

"Yeah," said another voice. The girl that Sarah had seen earlier stepped from the shadows that concealed her own soul. "Let _us_ help you."

"The piano could speed things along quite nicely," added the devil, pointing to the instrument.

"Wait, who are you?" said Soul, staring at the girl. "And," he turned to the devil. "You're a rude little troll, aren't you? This is a really good sound. Shut up for a second."  
"I'm Kikami," said the girl, grinning at Sarah, who glared back, not liking where the conversation was going.

"Same to you," replied Sarah angrily. "Shut up." With a defiant look, she turned her head, her loose curly hair unhindered by hair-ties bounced indignantly.

...  
_"There's no need to struggle to understand each other... We should appreciate the space between us, and just believe..."_  
When the combined wavelengths of her friends finally met at Sarah, the sound became even more uniform, all the background noise fading away as power surged throughout her being and resonating in her bones.

"Even if you gather similar people together," said Soul, "you can't just build a sound like this..."

Stein looked at the end-result with a slight smile. "You pass," he announced with a bit of pride. The group's resonance link swayed this way and that, as their uncertainty grew stronger in anticipation of the next statement they knew was coming. "The leader of this team... Is Sarah..." Sarah opened her eyes in surprise, but didn't break the resonance link just yet. She looked down at her hands, they had been unbandaged for a couple days now. She followed the scars with her eyes, but smiled from the happiness that reeled within her heart. Within her soul... _She_ was _needed_. She _belonged._

She had friends.

...

Maka and the crew were walking back home after Duel Arts practice, muscles raw but hopes high. Sarah, however was still a bundle of hyperactive energy...hopping from cobblestone to cobblestone on the moonlit path to the apartments. Liz yawned, and leaned on Kid while they walked, with Patty holding her hand.  
"Sarah is the leader of this team, huh..." mused Black*Star, somewhat disappointed. His hands were behind his head as he walked ahead of the group.  
"Thank goodness we passed," whined Liz. "I don't think I can take the pressure of going through so much drama!" Kid chuckled as he rolled his eyes in amusement at the entire situation that had unfolded.

"This time I made Maka cry was really serious, though," pointed out Black*Star, who would just not let the matter drop as of yet. "I guess women have a lot of stuff on their minds, y'know?"

"No," corrected Maka, insulted at the comment, fiery disposition back. "That was just me _roaring_! Who'd _cry_ in front of all those people! That's downright _shameful!_"  
Sarah grimaced. "Well, I cried..." she admitted, none too proud of the show of weakness. Maka 's hand flew to her mouth and she pat her cousin on the back in apology.

"Oh, well, if it's you Sarah, then it's ok." She turned to Black*Star. "All that aside, Black*Star!"  
"What?"  
"Hit me."  
He stopped walking, and turned around. His jaw was nearly on the floor."Huh! Are you crazy?"  
"It's payback for when I hit you earlier." explained Maka. "I feel bad leaving it this way."

"Wait a minute, Maka," said Soul, hesitant.  
Black*Star suddenly grinned evilly and cracked his knuckles. "I'm not gonna do it half-assed."  
"That'd be meaningless...You know how to throw a punch?"

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to? You'd better grit your teeth."

And before anyone else could react, Black*Star had socked her in the chin. Maka sailed over their heads and into some trash cans, sending garbage flying. She lay in the dirt and smiled, despite her throbbing cheek.  
"You... hold back a little, will you?"said Soul. "Ah, man... that wasn't cool at all..."  
"Ouch..." muttered Maka getting up.

"Same here Black*Star.." said Sarah, "hit me as well, I deserve it!"

Black*Star sighed and folded his arms."You're not just following your cousin, are you?"

She giggled. "_No_... But to be fair, I punched you father than Ane did." Sarah stood and waited for the punch..Black*Star sighed again and attacked the girl head on, but when his fist met her face he froze. Her head snapped to the side, but she had remained where she was. Black*Star gripped his hand and Sarah opened her eye a crack.

"Hmm?" she said, confused.

"DAMMIT THAT HURT!" said Black*Star, pain shooting up and down his arm. Hitting her felt like punching lead. Everyone burst into laughter as they walked back home, Sarah glancing up ever so often to see the moon giggling silently to itself. But...was that _blood_ dripping out of its mouth?

"Nah," she said, stealing Soul's headband right off of his head and waving it like a banner behind her as she ran. "Catch me if you can, Soru-chan!"

He scowled playfully, taking off after the crazy chick he called a friend.


	8. Omake 1

**Sa: **Hey guys! Sarah here to say we're getting more characters!

**Ma:**...whom I don't trust by the way.

**Sa: **Maka ane-chan, don't be like that!

**So:** What, you'd trust a _witch_ Sarah? (raises suspicious eyebrow) They're evil, you know.

**Sa:** But she doesn't _look _evil Soul, how dare you contradict me! Sarah Slash!

**So: **AH! (dodges wavelength attack)

**Kid: **Wow, looks like someone has anger issues, huh "mother-dear"?

**Sa: **Kid...don't anger me! I shall ground you, fake son!

**Ze:** ...you're his mother?

**Sa:** Only for pretend, I think of him as one though, right Kid?

**Kid: **(sigh) Yes, mother...

**Lu: **What about me, sister?

**Ze: **In time, in time...let's get on with the Omake chapter, huh?

**Ma: **A sound soul,

**Sa:** Dwells within,

**So:** A sound Mind,

**Ze & Lu:** And a sound Body!

Omake 1: The Last Good Witch- Destined to fall in love?

The child looked up at the dark figure eagerly, in that curious, observant way children have. It was a look that made his golden eyes sparkle and his face flush in wonder. "What are we going

to do today father?" asked the child. The dark pointy figure turned, to reveal a jovial skull mask, and from out of nowhere a giant white hand looking almost like a finger came and ruffled the short black and white striped locks the little boy had.

"Chichiue, you're making my hair even more unsymmetrical again!" tittered the child with glee.

Behind his mask the one called "Honorable Father" smiled down. Since before his birth he had known the child. This was a child of destiny, one of the children of destiny, of that he was most certain, a special child with many possibilities open for him. It was, would be glorious. In a world of so many (infinite even) opportunities, Death was absolutely certain that Kid would choose the path with the most potential and happiness. "Really," mused Death in his silly sing-song voice "What are we going to do today, Kiddo-kun?"

"We could study the humans?"

Death laughed. His son was so fascinated with humans and shared his love for them as well. Fitting, as Shinigami were gods with emotions and hearts of the mortals they watched over. "No, no, I'm afraid today we won't be studying humans, but something else."

"What else?"

"Hmm…." Perhaps he was too young to learn of them? No. All the other children of Meisters and Weapons probably had been told of them already. "Today," said Death, "we will learn of witches and vampires."

"Oh," said Kid, disappointment clear on his pale round face." I've heard of witches from the other kids."

"Really? What did you learn?" Death was surprised yet curious at his knowledge on the subject.

"That they're bad, and dreadfully asymmetrical," announced the youth with pride, thinking he'd figured it all out and the lesson finished. His father nearly burst into laughter at the smug expression on the five year old's chubby cheeks as he folded his arms and stood accomplished in his little black suit.

"Well, as it is true that witches as whole are regarded as evil…there are some good witches, son."

"Like who?"

"Well….." Death scratched his head. "Like my Angels.." "Who?" "Oh, it was far before your time Kiddo. They were a set of very cute witches, twin sisters, who went against their own kind and took my side."

"Really?" The thought was fascinating in itself to the small child.

"Yes. Their Magic was…..different from the others and their souls were _extra_ special. They could fly without broomsticks."

"How, how?" Kid knew that as a whole, witches needed broomsticks to fly.

"Were they bird witches or something?"

"Well, yes, Kid, but as I've said they had special souls, and _those_ are what made them fly, the wings on their souls." Kid suddenly found himself with a picture in his hands, put there by his father no doubt.

" They were called _Shinigami no tenshi_."

"_Shinigami no tenshi_….. Death's Angels?"

Lord Death sighed. "I wish I could find good witches like them again."

Kid looked at the girls in the photograph. One, was fair, with skin pale in the extreme, and big bright green eyes and straight golden hair; she had her arm slung on her sister's shoulder. The other girl, her sister, was dark-skinned, with brown eyes, and long dark wavy hair. Death the Kid didn't think they looked very much like twins, but he accepted it.

"I'll find some more."

"Hmm? More of what?" His father seemed puzzled, as he did often in the presence of such a strange child as his son.

"Good witches," said the tiny shinigami with a firmness this time. "I'll find them."

-TEN YEARS LATER-

Death the Kid tried his best to keep Beelzebub steady despite the extra weight. "Sarah," he sighed and grit his teeth. "Stop squealing for five minutes, _please_. You're giving me a migrane..." Soul laughed along with Patty and Liz while Sarah buttoned quickly buttoned her lips, abashed. In the blade she was carrying, she saw her partner's warm grin. From the corner of her eye she saw the images Patty and Liz's faces flash across the surface of their weapon forms as well.

"Cool guys like me are used to this Kid," Soul told the older boy confidently. "She does this with me and Maka on the bike...either that or while watching anime."

"SOUL!" screeched Sarah, now more angry than embarrassed. "Shut up!" These days, her personality was peeking though bit by bit, and evidently she was even more quick to anger than her cousin. Their weapons began to laugh once more, and their pilot furrowed his pale brow as the dry wind pushed back his bangs.

"My head.." mumbled Kid, wishing the noise would stop. Ever so slowly, their laughter died down and was lost in the wind.

"Oh, sorry Kid musuko-kun..." whispered Sarah, shaking Soul to shush. "I'lls be quiets now." These days Sarah really liked to call Kid "son" in Japanese...it completely extinguished all his hopes of them becoming more than friends. But that was alright, even if she and him _were _ to become a couple, he knew that she'd grow old and die, and he'd have to watch as she slowly disappeared from his life. His extremely long life-span sometimes seemed to be a curse, and he contemplated often how life would be like for him when his friends eventually would perish. He sighed and stopped his pondering and looked off toward to the hazy horizon.

"Where are we going Kid?" half-whispered Liz, when a few minutes of silence were starting to feel very stiff.

"To California," he replied evenly. "There's been a sighting of a witch living there." Nevada was located right next to the golden state so it wasn't long before they landed. Overhead the sun was shining exceedingly bright and the two Meisters and his weapons jumped off the skateboard and stood on the empty street. "But there's something different about this one, she hasn't made trouble as of yet."

"Really?" said Patty. "I thought witches liked to destroy and stuff, giraffe..."

Sarah dug out of her pocket a map and a little scrap of paper. "Let's see...she's been seen regularly at this address."

"Then let's get going." Soul was drooling in anticipation of the fight. The Meisters nodded, put on serious faces (though Kid already had a serious face), and tried to navigate the semi-confusing streets of San Francisco. When they finally arrived at the address, everyone looked upon the building in confusion.

"A daycare?" said Liz. Patty giggled, sounding like a pot of water bubbling over. "Hey what's that?"

From the playground they could see a mass of short little children clamoring around someone. The group of DWMA students drew closer. Upon inspection of this person one could see it was a girl. Her hair stopped at the middle of her back and was...angular? Black streaks at strangely symmetrical angles were abundant in the mane of lavender hair. Kid couldn't help but stare. She was conjuring an assortment of candy, lollipops, chocolates, and other treats floated around the air before ending up in the hands of the energetic tykes around her.

"The witch!" said Sarah. "That's so cute!"

"It sure is weird, that's for sure," said Soul.

"Er...yeah," said Kid, never taking his eyes away from the scene. Everyone decided to approach her stealthily.

"Hello," said the witch suddenly turning to face the group, who had been slowly gaining ground from behind. Her long eyelashes fluttered innocently over her large, dark orange eyes. She was wearing a reddish-brown dress that stopped mid-thigh and paw shaped boots the same color. She smiled. It was then Kid broke out in a cold sweat, and gulped, the words he had thought up before had disappeared from his brain.

"Hi!" said Sarah, so friendly to a witch it was almost unsettling. "Are you a witch perhaps? If so, surrender!"

"Uh...?" the girl tilted her head to the side. "Surrender? Why would I do that? I've done nothing wrong."

"Well, because..." the Meister put a finger to her lips and thought, while she rested Soul over her shoulders. "I dunno, because witches are supposed to be evil, right?"

"Not all are..."

"Don't believe you," said Soul, he was very wary of this girl.

"I'm not attacking you DWMA students, am I?" she asked, and fluttered her eyelashes again. Kid realised he had been holding his breath and drew in a sharp one that stung his lungs.

"Well, no," said Liz. "Hey, Kid what should we do with her?"

"Er, um, we should take her to my father then," the shinigami-boy shook his head and regained his composure. Coughing into his fist, Kid looked away from the girl and to Sarah and Soul. "Well then let's get going." Liz and Patty couldn't help but notice their Meister's slightly flushed cheeks as he said this. "By the way, what's your name?"

Bright sets of sparkly white teeth flashed from her smiling mouth. "It's Zelda. Zelda Kitsune, the Fox witch."

-Back at the DWMA-

No one seemed to notice anything much when they arrived back at school. Zelda had flown to the city limits on her broomstick, following Kid and his merry friends. It was there she put her Soul Protect on, so as not to alarm the students once she entered Death City. There were a few stares from random kids in the hallway, but of course they dismissed her strange appearance easily, considering they could only sense normal humans walking past. Besides, she was hanging out with Kid, and they surmised that this new girl was an important guest and should not be bothered. At the door to the Death Room, Sarah hesitatingly gave Zelda a small smile and they followed Kid.

"We're back, Father!" Kid announced once they were standing in the main chamber.

"Kiddo-kun! How did it go? Oh, who's this?" Lord Death bounced where he, er, stood, and the children felt he seemed to be smiling behind his mask.

"My name is Zelda, sir. The fox witch."

"A witch?" said Lord Death, his voice was trying, (and failing) to be serious, but the effect was lost by it's...cartoonish manner. "Why are you here?"

"We don't know what to do with her..." said Soul, shooting a glance at the girl, who seemed to flinch under his menacing red glare. Kid fired his own irritated look at Soul, and the scythe looked away quickly, intimidated by how protective he was acting.

"Oh? Zelda-chan I have just one question for you." He pulled out one of his hands and put up his index finger to highlight the point.

"Yes, Lord Death?" said Zelda softly, her voice lifted towards the end of the sentence in a very perky manner.

"Are you evil?"

Patty and Sarah exploded into laughter as Kid and Soul rolled their eyes. Liz stood aside from the group, filing her fingernails.

"Did I say something funny?" asked the confused Reaper. He took his giant comical white foam finger and scratched his head.

"It's not a very typical question, Father," answered Kid blandly, still staring at the young witch. She was standing there calmly, but despite the undisturbed exterior Zelda was frightened out of her mind. [ The light, nervous tittering of a small piccolo trembled around the room] Our less than ideal heroine Sarah picked up on the surprisingly frail wavelength.

"Um...I don't think Zelda-chan is evil, sir," said Sarah, a small and uncertain smile emerging on her face. Soul looked to her, eyebrows raised in surprise. He wanted to say something to protest but, there was nothing he knew about this new person to prove or disprove the fact. If Sarah believed this, he could argue her announcement, but it seemed too much work. Cool guys had to have a valid reason for putting extra work into things.

"Oh?" responded Lord Death, the smile he had behind his mask seeming to be present in his voice. "Really, Sarah-kun?" She nodded and smiled at Zelda, who looked at her oddly, her eyes a tangerine color.

"I'm not evil," admitted Zelda quietly. All the weapons jumped, startled expressions on their faces. "Is there any way I could...apply to the DWMA to show that?"

"Hmmmmm..." said Lord Death, rubbing his "chin" thoughtfully. "What can you offer us? Besides, how would you act as a student, you're not a Meister or a weapon."

"..." Zelda looked away a tad guiltily.

"Are you?"

"Well..." she poked her index fingers together much like a very shy ninja we all know. "I...kind of am a Meister, I do have a Weapon..."

"Really?" said Lord Death energetically. "Then let's see!"

Zelda nodded again and reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out what looked like a small tiger doll. Everyone looked upon it in curiosity as she uttered the word "_dimittere_" and in a flash of light there was a little boy standing before them. Well, not exactly a little boy, _exactly_. He was a smidgen shorter than Zelda, with extra dark red hair with black streaks, and from the messy-yet-symmetrical mass of fluffy hair were two tiger ears. He had brown plaid shorts, a matching vest with a hood, and black shoes. He blinked away tears in the brightness of the Death Room and his big pumpkin colored eyes widened when he saw Zelda. He scowled and waved his fists in the air.

"Big sister, that wasn't funny!" he yowled, a tiger growl emerging at the end of his little outburst. From his shorts a small tiger's tail stuck out at the back and it was swishing back and forth with each swing of his tiny fists. The room was filled with an awkward silence, as the air grew thick with awkwardness. Sarah stopped breathing...everything about him, from the clothes to the appearance to his voice was...

"CUUUUUUU- UUUUUUUUUUUU - UUUUUUUUUUU- UUUUUUUUUUUUU- UUUUUUUUUU- UUUUUUUUUUU- UUUUUUU- UUUUUUUUUUU-UUUUUUUUU- UUUUUUUUUU- UUUUUUUUUUUUU- UUUUUUU- UUUUUUUTE!" exclaimed Sarah, viciously tackling the boy in her glee and bringing him to the floor in a bear hug. Her words were a million miles a minute, and hardly anyone could decipher her message. "OhMYGAWD you are the CUTEST Little thing since my LITTE BROTHEr DANNY, and You're just so small and angry and ADORABLE AND MOÉ and..." The little boy tried to escape but failed and could only try and grasp shallow breaths as the shockingly strong and hyper little Meister obsessed over him and slowly squeezed the life out of him.

"Uh, Sarah?" asked Soul, raising a hand in confusion. She stopped hugging him for a second. Gasping, the boy drew away and hid behind Zelda. Sarah looked after him longingly and sighed.

"This is my little brother," said Zelda, an embarrassed sweatdrop forming on her brow. "The Tiger Warlock, Lucifer Diablo. He's half human."

"Interesting," said Kid, taking in her brother's equally satisfyingly symmetrical appearance. "How?"

"Well," said Lucifer peeking out at Kid shyly. "Zelda is a full witch, we have the same Warlock of a father, but he's in witch prison now. My mom was human though."

"My mother," continued Zelda, "was Arrithya Kitsune, she was next in line to be the Grand Witch, however..." she looked down at this and stopped speaking.

"Oh, I see," said Death understanding. "I know, your Aunt Maaba killed her in order to inherit the powers. So, infamous ladykiller Elric Inuke is in witch prison?"

"Yes," agreed the siblings, nodding as they did. Zelda tried not to look at Lord Death, while Lucifer stared at him defiantly, completely unafraid.

"I'm big sister's Weapon, so don't you dare hurt her, Death!" he said, stepping in front of the older girl. Lucifer spread his arms wide in an attempt to shield her from view.

Lord Death held up his hands. "Now hold on, I'm not going to hurt her, calm down." A small puff of a sigh whistled though his mask. "I was actually going to offer you both a deal in order to protect you from Maaba."

In one quick motion, Zelda's hands were over her chest in disbelief as a sharp breath entered her lungs. Her eyes started to tear up. Lucifer looked to her with an innocent but careful expression. "Sister?"

"Th-th-THANK YOU!" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. "We've been running so long, and when I saw your students..." she wiped away some of the teardrops with her sleeve, but everything was still blurry and more only poured out. "I thought that I could turn myself in. If only for Lucifer's sake."

Lord Death nodded. "Yes, Yes, It's alright now, but there _is _one thing you have to do first."

"A-anything!" she said, shaking her head in the positive furiously, as Lucifer helped her to her feet and dusted off her dress.

"You'll have to seal up your powers while you're here, that means no magic."

"Of course!" she agreed, happiness overflowing too much to care. "Lucifer can't even do magic well so, he'd be no problem. Me, I'm far stronger so..."

"So...you'll use Soul Protect, right?" asked Kid.

"No, actually, that will only work temporarily for me, seeing as how my powers are so strong already." She put a finger to her lips and thought. "In fact, I'd have to make a pact with someone."

"A pact?" asked everyone.

"Yes, a pact that would seal up my powers until needed."

"Sounds reasonable," said Soul, actually liking where the conversation was leaning. "How do you make one?"

"I have to draw a magic circle," she said, while beginning to draw one on the floor with a piece of chalk she seemed to have conjured suddenly. "Then I have to pick someone, someone responsible to be my contractor."

"Kid's responsible!" yelled Patty, pushing her Meister into the circle. He stumbled before righting himself and looked back at the blond with an irritated glimmer in his eye.

"Alright then," she said, as everyone backed away slowly. She spread her hands out to her sides and breathed in. "PACTIO!" Light began to glow from the floor beneath them, as well as an unknown breeze. Kid gulped as he noticed how even more beautiful Zelda looked up close. The witch drew closer and stared at him seriously. "We witches can make a pact with only one person, so, this is a really big deal." Death the Kid nodded in understanding, both their faces were bathed in a soft azure light, and around them was the gentle scent of roses.

"What do I do now?" he asked, heart thundering in his ears so loudly that he could hardly think much less move. "Do we swap blood or-,"

"You have to kiss me," said Zelda, almost with chagrin in her airy voice. But it seemed she wasn't too worried about it; it even appeared like, like she _wanted_ to kiss him. Flustered, Kid gulped and nearly panicked right then and there, but before he could react, Zelda had grabbed the front of his suit and forced her lips onto his own. He kept his eyes open for about a second, but they slowly closed on their own, savoring the taste in his mouth. Milky, kind of sweet, minty, it nearly knocked him flat on his back. It was maddening, how her soft lips made him feel numb as they remained on his, how he felt the magic flow through him, give him a new power in addition to the ones he had presently locked within him. For a first kiss, Kid surmised that it was something he'd like to try again if possible. Slowly, the light died down and the magic swirling around them subsided.

"There, was that so bad, Death the Kid?" said Zelda as she pulled away from him slowly, each of their complexions were slightly flushed. He didn't respond right away, but stared at her, pleasantly occupied with the memory of the kiss still tingling on his own lips.

"Um...so that was it?" Kid held a hand to his head to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Yes, I'll tell you the details later, ok?"

Kid nodded and clumsily stepped away from her, lightheaded.

"And yes, Kid, that feeling is normal."

A few meters away, Sarah was sniffing, eyes tearing up quickly.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Liz before Soul could muster up the courage to ask.

"My little Kid musuko-kun is growing up!" she wailed happily.

Everyone except for Zelda and Kid rolled their eyes.

(**A/N:** Okay a lot of the endings and openings are a lot like parodies of the openings and endings of the shows I borrowed the songs from...so look up the video and try and incorporate parts of it...into the sequence I will try and describe, okay? ^_- )

-cue ending theme one: "Hitosashiyubi Quiet"-

All the girls are having a sleepover and everyone is in pajamas. Maka grabs some markers and paper and then runs over to Patty, Liz, Kim, Minora and Zelda, who are on the floor with their sleeping bags.

-_Daiji na toko de_-

Maka writes "truth or dare" on the paper in front of her on the floor in red marker.

-_Nee~! Jama wo shinaide_-

Black*Star, Kid, Soul, Danny, Crona and Lucifer burst though the door in a heap by accident from leaning against it.

-_HAI!_-

Sarah summons her scythe and chases the boys away angrily.

-_Masani te to te ga fureta shunkan_-

Flashback: Soul and Sarah are sitting side by side on the ledge overlooking Death City. Their fingers accidentally brush against each other and they blush and look away from each other.

-_Ara chi-chi-chi!_ _Ojama-mushi yattekuru_-

Black*Star jumps in between them and makes Kissy faces.

-_Yay!_-

Sarah gets up and punches him in the face.

-_Kanari zetsumyou desu taimingu_-

Back to the sleepover: Zelda laughs at the story/flashback and Sarah angrily throws a pillow at her.

-_Guzuguzu shitewa irarenai_-

Jackie and Kim laugh at the witch's messed up hair, but Zelda suddenly appears behind them, pillow in hand, eyes glinting.

-_Uwasa no ano ko mo kitto_-

Flashback: Minora is walking in the snow in a schoolgirl outfit.

-_Pinkii ni hoppeta somete_-

She approaches Erik and blushes.

-_Iitakute demo ienai sore wa_-

She twiddles her thumbs a little then looks up.

-_Teppen ni "tsu" no tsuku kotoba desu_-

She kisses him and he looks slightly surprised.

-1, 2, 3, 4!-

Danny, with his ear to the door of the sleepover, counts off the numbers on his fingers.

-_Koi wo shitai nara yottoide_-

Maka does part of a dance.

-_Hanashotte yumeshotte utaimashou la la la_-

Jackie and Kim do the next part.

-_Wakewakannai sorya rabu nandesumon_-

Show the boys listening at the door again. Pillow fight ensues on the other side.

-_Kuchibiru ga ugoite_-

Crona sings this part while looking nervously at the door.

-_Demo koko kara wa himichu_-

Kid sing this next part while moving close to Crona's face.

-_Hitsashi yubi yubi_. _Naisho moodo hisohiso_-

Lucifer and Danny sing this part with a shush finger over thier lips and then cup their hands near their mouths.

**Sa:** I hoped you liked this short chapter!

**Ma:** So... KiSa is a no go?

**Sa:** Correct.

**Ma:** And KiMa is a no go as well?

**Sa:** (sighs) Yes, Maka Ane-chan...

**So: **What about SoMa or SoSa?

**Sa&Ma: **(stares at Soul)... ... ... ... ...SHUT _UP_ SOUL!

_Um...guys, I'll decide whether or not you'll have ship tease, ok?_

**All:** ...

**Lu:** So what? I don't have anyone?

_You will, Lucifer! Someone...your age...by the way how old are you?_

**Lu:** 50 in human years...11 in witch years...

**Ma&Sa:** Oh...~

**Ma:** _He'll_ be perfect, right Sarah?

**Sa:** I guess so, yes...

**Lu:** Who will? Wait..._HE?_

**Ma&Sa:** MWHAHAHAHA!

_MWAHAHAHA can you guys guess who will be paired with Lucifer?_


	9. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Hey, faithful readers! Ya know...Those who read my stories know I love fanfiction right? Yeah...so I had this awesome idea to add some more characters from other Soul Eater fics (with permission of course). Of course, I also had to add more OCs of my own! Yay, it's chappie seven! You know what this means? New opening theme song! That's right! Just look up "Haruka OP Tomodoi bitter tune" on youtube and try and see if you can imagine it~

**Disclaimer: **The OCs in the beginning (with the exception of Handel, Shinei, and Gorosha) are not mine, they belong to the exceptional writer: The Lord Of All Chaos, and are used with permission from his amazing story "Soul Eater: My Way" Oh, and if you look hard enough, there are OCs from "Witches Man, Witches" by my just as talented "big brother" Allen Bedillion Trahurn. Plus, I do **not** own Soul Eater, I own nothing but my thoughts, the lyrics I've written before the story, my OCs, and the cake that is a lie!

* * *

_**Yet another chapter by me. Oh gosh, y'all are gonna hate me for this...**_

**Ma: **(growing bold against me) Yeah! Stupid authoress! After this chapter, they're definitely going to call me and Sarah Mary-Sues !

**Sa: **(pouting) Hey! I'm no Mary-Sue!

**So: **...well then... (looks askance)

(Maka and Sarah stare at Soul)

**Ma: **Do YOU think we're Mary-Sues, Soul?

**So: **(startled at first, then calms down) Nah, I'm too cool to be partnered with Mary-Sues, so "No, you guys aren't."

**Sa: **Hmmmm, good answer Soul-kun.

**Ma: **Hey, you think Kid's kind of a Gary Stu?

**Sa: **I thought the term was "Marty Stu", and...no.

**Ma: **Why not? He's kinda...

**Sa: **Doesn't matter, he doesn't fit the description.

**Ma: **(triumphantly) Neither do we!

**Ma & Sa: **(Links arms and yells to the heavens dramatically) We are not Mary-Sues!(They run off somewhere randomly)

_**(Sweatdrops) Okay? ...I guess I'll do this one. A—**_

**So: **Wait.

_**(Sighs) What, Soul?**_

**So: **I never get to do this, can I do it this time?

_**(rubs temples) Sure, fire away~**_

**So: **Yeah! (pumps fist in air) A sound _me_ dwells within a sound mind and a sound body!

_**(Sigh)**_

* * *

_Hey a **cat**, a flask of **cyanide**_

_Radioactive **waste**, you think it'd die, _

_Sealed in a box shielded from life. _

_Will the glass shatter, _

_releasing the poison? _

/

_Did **Cuoisity** kill the cat? _

_He implies that after a while, _

_The cat is alive **and** dead. _

_Simultaneously we **know** that _

_This answer is what we **dread**._

/

_Yet, when we look in the box,_

_Schrödinger's cat is unharmed._

/

**_Schrödinger's cat_**- Starlight's Aveng8er

* * *

Chapter 7: Make the Grade- The Super Written Exam (again)?

*Eight Days before the exam*

She always liked listening to music, ever since she was little, Sarah enjoyed melodies. With a slight smile, she and Danny walked up to the warehouse, her mp3 player on high. _Kuroki Neko _seemed to heighten the effect of the grey clouds above that were hanging opressively over them, and she felt a wave of melancholy flow through her before advancing forward. Danny followed close on her heels, looking around cautiously. Sarah looked at the boy and frowned, back home he wouldn't let go of her until she agreed to bring him along, and his iron grip was too hard to free herself from. Every time she had pulled off one of his hands the little tyke would latch another one around her somehow. Evantually she got fed up and gave up trying to oppose his wish to accompany her. Still...that didn't mean Sarah had to use him as a weapon, he was only tagging along, and straight after he was going home and would be sent straight to bed.

Danny was wearing something….er…interesting. As usual these in these days of his living with them, he had a long red scarf wrapped around his neck, a thick white jacket that looked like it was borrowed from Papa Stein, but altered to fit his small stature. Underneath the jacket, but unseen, he wore a grey, long-sleeved dress-shirt and a dark grey sweater vest with stitches across the front in an X formation. They stood outside of the warehouse for a couple minutes though, Sarah staring at the building, not many very useful thoughts brewing in her usually hyperactive mind. _Maybe it's the weather that's messing you up_, suggested Kikami, which only made Sarah grimace in annoyance. Ever since Duel Arts practice, that voice had begun to offer comment on each and every thing Sarah encountered. She faintly remembered that she had this sort of problem before, when she was younger, but after a few years she had completely forgotten about it, dismissing the conversations she held with "herself" as the imaginary friend she never could see no matter how hard she tried. In any case, coming to Forks was seeming less and less like a good idea the more she looked at the menacing clouds floating in the sky above them. They almost made her wish she could see that mocking self-righteous sun of theirs laughing at her.

"Okay Danny," she said, at which the little boy perked up and looked to her with a smile. "I'll be going in alone and—,"

"But-," he began to protest, a puppy-dog pout ready to form, yet she glared at him sharply and his complaint caught in his throat.

"I wasn't finished Ototochan..." she warned. "And in case the kishin egg escapes outside, I want you to hold it off until I can catch it."

A stubborn sigh stirred the cold air in front of his face, his cheeks slightly red from the weather. "O-kay Ane..."

"Oh, and hold my mp3 for me, okay? I never bring my Ipod on missions, but I don't want this little player hurt either."

Daniel obeyed, putting the device into his pocket. He watched as she jogged around the corner to the side of the building and dissapeared from his view. "But what if you don't come back?" whimpered the boy to himself, he sensed something...was off with the building, something dark, very dark indeed.

* * *

-Cue Tomadoi Bitter Tune-

Prompt to open a file pops up. The words "Soul Eater" are typed in, and the mouse clicks the 'open' button below the typing space.

The prompt disappears to show the wallpaper of a computer's desktop, which shows a picture of Sarah and Maka in Santa suits. The sketch of Sarah wielding Danny pops up in a Photoshop window. The mouse clicks a few buttons in the window and other layers of the picture come into view to make it look like the cover of a manga magazine.

-Hanbun Nara agenai-

On the upper left corner of the screen Sarah looks to the right to Soul who is in the opposite corner, where he glances back at her. The screen is divided diagonally with ribbons that display the word "secrets" along its length.

-Subete ubatte hoshii-

Soul is sitting on the left of the screen at the piano, surrounded by girls. Meanwhile on the left, Sarah is walking down the hallway surrounded by boys. Again, the screen is divided vertically down the middle by a ribbon that says "secrets" only this time in Romanian.

-Unme Nara ichibyou-

Danny is on the left, Maka is in the middle, Lucifer is on the right. They are all walking in their own little section of the screen, which is divided into thirds by more ribbons that say "secrets" in Japanese.

-Umarekawaru yume o mita-

Everyone stops walking to look at each other in and smile.

-Kuchibiru o kande-

Montage of photos featuring the characters doing everyday things.

-Itai hodo takabucchau ne, Demo shou ga nai modorenai-

Samuel Stein, Sarah Scaife, Black*Star, Tsubaki and Hiro pop up on screen, only to be kicked away by Erik and Minora.

-Ne... Kore ga ai Na no?-

Kikami appears in a schoolgirl sailor suit, and then Zelda swings a traditional Japanese umbrella into the frame, then she appears in a kimono, standing next to Kid in a solid black suit.

[Excalibur's horrible drawing flies across the screen as a transition into the next scenes]

-Do! Shiyou furereru, furereru-

[Let the censored bikini changes begin!]

The first three girls are: Hannah (property of Wolfsbane709) wearing a green tankini, Patty wearing a red bikini with spaghetti straps, and Tsubaki in a black bikini with gold straps. Then in a lone shot is Liz in a dark blue one-piece (I shall draw this, don't worry, not sure how to describe it).

-Yawaraka Na kakushin Ni furete yo-

Sitting down is Sarah Scaife, who changes into a white and yellow swimsuit top but wears short shorts. Maka and Zelda jump on-screen and both change into identical orange swimsuits. Kim and Jackie are standing back to back, and as we see them rotate on-screen, they both change into light green one-pieces.

-Hidoi nigusa no ato de-

Sarah Albarn comes on-screen, and she changes into a dark purple bikini with frills.

-Hoto bashiru amai yume-

Full length bikini-shot of Sarah, then a small clip of a purple eye closing slowly.

-Hora tunagaru, tsunagaru, Karamitsuku shisen tsukamaete-

Ribbons go across the screen horizontally once again to transition, and another montage of photos appears.

-Watashi no koto aisuki desu ka?-

Zelda is standing in a light yellow dress holding her hands together like in prayer as the wind blows her hair around.

-Onegai BITTER TUNE...Hanasanaide...-

A small clip of her saying 'onegai', then her and Kid entwining fingers and leaning in to kiss, but the kiss is then censored by ribbons and the camera sweeps upwards to the sky.

We see pictures of the main characters flash by and then a whole panoramic shot of the entire cast.

-Music Fades Out-

* * *

**"Okay?"**

Not long after she had found an entrance, Sarah wandered inside and looked around in the dark, finding...nothing. She squinted; her nightvision was less than spectacular, and the darkness within was so dense it nearly suffocated her.

_Isn't this nice? _lilted her alter ego, trying to cheer her up. The cruelty in her always sachharine tone was surprisingly absent.

"No. No it isn't Kikami," said Sarah, addressing the voice, trying to find her way around. "It's creepy."

_Wait a second..._she thought. _Am I talking to myself? _Rounding a corner within the corridor, Sarah suddenly noticed a small brightness at the end of it that poured out from a large, open door on the far left, showing a large rectangle of pale light on the wall opposite of it. _No, you're talking to **me**, _replied the annoying voice again. Kikami clicked her toungue dissaprovingly, smiling as she did. _Tsk tsk,_ _it seems you still don't remember me, do you?_

"Then I really am crazy...," she said, obviously _not _remembering what Kikami was referring to in particular.

_You **could** say that you're crazy, but in actuallity...wait do you hear that?_

"Hear _what_?" She cocked her head as if trying to listen.

_Spread your second Soul Perception out more...you know~ _Closing her eyes, Sarah breathed out and listened, trying to filter out all the background noise crackling in the background. [ _jhuhjujhjuhjuh _] said the wavelength. [ _juhuhuhshshjuh_ ] A shiver wriggled over her skin, it was getting louder, clearer. It alternated between different sounds. [_jujuhushsujushsjuh_] There seemed to be more than one soul's wavelenghth, and combined the wavelengths were in dissonance, which only made Kikami squal in delight. One though, rose above the rest, as if leading the whole of them. She tried to pick out its melody from the rest. [A deep, slow, dragging cello emerged from the static in persistent reppetition, rushing ahead of the others, and behind it she could still hear the background noise ] No...that wasn't static... [ A fire, raging, smoldering slowly beneath the music ]

_There!_ yelld Kikami, as Sarah made her way to the end of the hall, and stopped in the doorway just before she heard a scream that ripped through the entire warehouse with a terrifying echo. Her heart nearly stopped, the scream was definitely feminine, but she still worried for her little brother's sake. Maybe she should have kept him closer. _No time to think about that_, reminded Kikami. _Time to find that...**amazing **wavelength._ Another scowl later and with much worry, Sarah plunged through the door, toward the sound as it dissipated. When she entered she quickly ducked behind a column of steel, as one of the persons within the room started at the sudden, slight noise, then relaxed as they convinced themselves it was a rodent scurrying around in the abandoned place. Sarah tried to get a better veiw of the scene playing out before her, peeking around the steel column. What she saw was very confusing indeed. In the massive open space one expects to find in a warehouse, there seemed to be a massive feast going on in. At the long table suited more for a dining hall in Hogwarts, there seemed to be an assemblage of people sitting, eating and drinking.

_No,_ corrected Kikami. _They're not eating..._ And indeed they weren't Sarah took a glance at the table, where the plates sat serenely, shining slightly, almost as if only for show. Tuplip-shaped glasses abounded in number and each person seated had one filled to the brim with a thick rouge ligud. It was impossible, thought Sarah, it was not true. Nearly every single of the table's occupants were pale, thin, and horrifingly, inhumanely _beautiful_. A man sitting at the head of the table said something in a different language with smooth, almost seductively deep voice. He grinned as the others around him laughed at the comment as he stroked the side of the face of the girl shivering next to him. Perhaps _she_ was the source of the scream? All seated had long, pearly canines.

_Then that means,_ thought Sarah, concerned.

_Vampires,_ finished Kikami, with much more excitement than required. Sarah just _knew _coming to this place was asking for trouble. She closed her eyes, and let the ever-glowing lights within the spiritual plane shine.

Souls.

Fifty-nine she counted, but there was one human, near the table's head. She opened her eyes at looked to the scene again. Next to the suave male at the head was the slight, thin girl. Her hair was bone straight and pitch black, a long cascade of darkness. She did not look very happy, Sarah observed, stepping from the shadows and into the dismaly lit area.

All conversation stopped.

"Why hello," said the short, and very crazy Meister.

"Hello indeed," said the figure next to the cowering girl. "Were you invited to this event, or are you a gate-crasher, dearie?"

"Oh me?" said Sarah innocently. Then she was so close to him in such a short time he blinked in stifled shock. "I'm just passin' through." An ax kick from her boot found its way into his gaunt face, and he was thrown backwards. The Meister held one hand extanded to the side with the other drawn into her center to keep her balance as she landed on the table without much grace. The silverware clattered when her boots met the table, and all the vampires stood, chairs scraping the floor; the lone human girl seemed to stare at Sarah with a desperate look, eyes sparkling like emerald. [ A harp's light melody, weak, wavering and innocent, and seemed to reach to incredibly high tones] Sarah nearly spat in disgust that they had a girl with such a beautiful wavelength enslaved.

"Master!" shouted a slim blond from the end of the table. She growled gutterally, and glared at Sarah, yet the girl remained unflinchingly stoic.

"Honorable Count!" bellowed her companion, a tall burly man with dark curly brown hair. The one called the count got up from the floor and wiped his mouth.

"You sniveling little brat. Who—no, _what_ are you?" He wiped his own blood from his busted lip before it healed itself. "It's been a while since I've seen my own blood, you know."

"I assure you I'm human," said Sarah, cocky, but still wary of his darkening gaze. She held out her right hand, concentrating on summoning her weapon; when it appeared, she smiled at how easy it was becoming to manifest. Earlier, before this mission, she had made it a point to try and master _that_ at least. Though the easier it became, the more frequently would Kikami comment. "However, as you can see, I'm a bit..._different _than the rest. You're the one they call 'Count Dracula', yes?"

_Let me help~ _sang Kikami.

Leader of the coven merely shrugged, and moved closer to his human captor his cold lips resting in her hair lightly; the others still were on edge, awaiting the call for attack with evident bloodlust. Granted, Dracula knew that they weren't nearly as powerful as himself, but they should spare him some time to escape with his jewel, his...(he licked his lips at this)...Jade Princess.

"Well then..." said Sarah, her vision darkening as her eyes began to revert to that familiar shade of mauve. She felt Kikami's presence in her mind press upon her will as she began to try take over Sarah's body. Futile as it was, she tried to fight the other girl, but this time Sarah was not going to win. Kikami laughed, and made her utter the next words: "I'll just eat your souls then," she said in a suddenly insane sing-song voice. "WOULDN'T THAT BE FUN?" her pupils seemed to vanish and her iruses glowed purple. Shivering, Dracula sensed something seriously wrong with her wavelength as it changed. When he finally sorted it out, he cursed under his breath in Romanian. _Another one with this Dark Wavelength?_ he mused, fuming. _I thought I had killed off the only other masters of it long ago...but it seems different than mine, as if her soul is untouched by it, but maybe...unless..._

"Impossible!" he bellowed without thinking. "_Yuuka_?" Panic began to grip his unbeating heart. Could it really be the Protector? No. He had seen _them_ kill her after all, her and her ridiculous twin sister. But then again, he could be wrong about that, he was getting fairly old, for his memory was not as it used to be. Dracula knew, however, that the Protector and her sister the Preserver had always been immune to his wavelength despite being able to control it. _They_ were the only ones who could vanquish him. The thought of dying did not thrill the ancient vampire very much. "Kill her!" he snarled, not taking any chances. With one small gesture he swooped his human slave into his hands like a bag of flour, the small girl not reacting with much more than a blink of her blank green eyes. As the enraged vampires closed in upon the young Miester, Dracula took this time to make his escape out the windows. "Let's go, Minora," said the Count in a quiet voice. Effortlessly, he lept to them and with his polished black dress shoe he kicked through the frail glass. Smirking, he escaped, graciously ignoring Danny's concerned cries of "Ane?" from outside the building and dissapearing like a puff of steam.

_Yes_, thought Sarah bitterly from inside her soul, _coming to Washington was a very bad, **stupid **idea._

_**"Stuck?"**_

This was just great, mavrvelous, the best thing in the world...NOT! Sarah looked upon the fight with a bit of apathy mixed with frustration. She was stuck in her soul, had lost control of Kikami, and somehow she knew that this was not to end well. All Sarah could do was peek outside from the weapon's blade as Kikami hacked at the undead leeches, laughing maniacally. They seemed to only be annoyed, and the attacks from the body hijacker seemed deliberately unlethal, as if she were toying with them before she stole their lives away. In any case, it seemed Sarah was stuck, and had to watch gory the show playing out before her. She looked around her soul once more, still dark. Maybe if it was brighter she could do something...

"Hey there,"

A chill went through her. "What the—," she began. _Not again._

"Hello there," it repeated.

"YOU..." Sarah nearly snarled. It was the devil, and he was standing in her lone spotlight as well. "What are you doing here? I thought you were with Soul or something."

"Oh~" mused the devil half to himself, half to Sarah. "You know that you and Soul have a connection. You may try to hide it, but it _is_ there..." he grinned, showing the rows of zigzagged teeth. "Why else would I be here?"

"Sh-shut up," said Sarah curtly, mouth in a flat line, face warm.

"Heh, you're blushing," noted the devil, smirking and licking his lips. Afraid that her true feelings might become even _more_ obvious, Sarah balled her fists and punched him repeatedly in the left horn.

" I am _not_, st-stupid!" she repeated over and over. The devil growled, baring his sharp teeth and raising an arm to sheild himself while he took the punishment.

"You are such a _difficult_ girl, aren't you?" he murmured to himself. "If it's dark, why don't you do something about it?"

Sarah stopped her fit and blinked, staring at him. " Wha—?"

"I said: 'If it's dark, _do_ something about it.'" He turned and began to walk away, leaving Sarah speechless for a few seconds. "Well, I'll be going then."

"Wait! What do you—," Sarah reached out to stop him, but the little devil was already gone from whence he came, dematerializing into the darkness. "_Kisame_..." cursed Sarah as she looked around. " I should 'do something about it'? But what?" Within her, there was the small, niggling feeling that he was right. Maybe she should concentrate more. Closing her eyes she breathed out and listened to her heartbeat.

_Light? _She clasped her hands together, entwining her fingers.

What really _was _Light?

_The absence of **Darkness**…._

The absence of Darkness?

But what really was darkness?

One after candles with red flames emerged around her, each flickered on as if by magic, they were held in stands made of warped black wrought iron. Several spotlights switched on above her as well. Light suddenly abounded in such quantity she could barely look around before her eyes began to adjust. It was now that she could see what the contents of her soul were.

A stage. She was on a stage.

Maybe...it was her performance after all.

"Kikami..." she growled, willing the light outwards to drive the more than annoying presence back into her soul.

**"My time?"**

When she came to her senses, there were still most of them left, but that was not what concerned her. What _concerned_ her was that nearly _all_ of them had a look of insanity within their sinister red eyes as they crept forward. One in particular had a peice of broken glass pressed dangerously to her neck as he stood behind the girl and held her in place with an arm around her waist. They were probably planning on drinking her blood...or worse, eating her soul. The vampire restraining her leaned forward and whispered in her ear. His voice was smooth and his breath cold; she fought back shivers with every one of his words.

"Tell me this girl: Why aren't you dead as of yet?" Something spongy and wet slid across the back of her neck, making her eyes widen. Sickness bubbled in her stomach as she realized it was his tongue.

Sarah fought back nausea. _Disgusting_...

"How delicious are your reactions," he continued. "Maybe you should become my _bride_ instead?"

"Hell no!" she roared, and he let the glass sink into her skin, making some blood flow down her neck.

"Ah ah ah, what a temper you have..." he chided playfully. The coven of vampires laughed in unison. Sarah cursed, struggling against Kikami again. _Let me have my fun,_ she whined. When she had taken over, Kikami had been attacking with no purpose but to enrage the bloodsuckers, and now, well...a rock and a hard place seemed like a better place to be right now.

"I...don't know why I'm alive still," Sarah whispered. "But I _do_ know I have to stop you."

"We're just trying to live," said one of the others in the group before her. "Young One, what else are vampires supposed to—, "

"The blood drinking does not bother me," she said before he could finish.

"Then why listen to Lord Death? Why go after us?" said another.

"You know that answer as much as I do...It's the killing."

"..." They knew not what to say to that.

"Surely," she sucked in a sharp breath, ignoring the stinging on her neck, and pushing Kikami back into her soul again. "There must be a way to drink blood and not kill anyone."

"..."

"Still, above all that, you know that all those innocent souls you consumed, deserve vengance."

"And you think you can give them that?" said the voice behind her. "You can give them vengance, a little girl like you?

"I know I can."

"Well that's were you're—,"

"YAHOOOO~~!" Glass flew everywhere, shattering above their heads as a dark form burst in through the skylight overhead and landed on the vampire holding Sarah captive. She flew off to the side and landed on the concrete, brusing her shin a bit. She got up and gripped her neck with one hand. Her eyes were closed from the sudden shock, and she rubbed her leg to soothe the soreness.

"OW! Dammit Black*Star, I **swear**..."

"Who the _hell_ is Black*Star?" said the boy standing before her. When Sarah opened her eyes she was taken by surprise; the boy she saw was not the hyperactive ninja she knew. [The dark tones of a pipe organ blasted within the place, causing a humungus reverberation of discordant notes] He was the around the same height, but this boy had a dark brown page-boy haircut, and his eye on the right was red while the other was blue. That, and he wore silver wireframe glasses and two black rings...no... _bracelets,_ on each wrist. The right one glowed red as the other glowed blue in response to his deep, erratic wavelength.

_Woah_, thought Sarah. _Definitely **not** Black*Star's hyper soul, but definitely self-absorbed..._

"Hey Handel," said the bracelet glowing red. "Heads up, vamp at 10 o'clock."

"I know I know," replied the boy in a slightly vicious tone. With a short burst of light from the left bracelt, he lifted his hand and shot the female advancing upon Sarah from behind. Her soul was left behind in an instant.

"Th-thanks..." said Sarah, trying to stand.

"Oh!" said the bracelet that was glowing blue. "Don't get up! I can detect that your soulwaves are going haywire at the moment." Not at all freaked out that the bracelet could tell of her vitals, Sarah stood anyway, only to be grabbed by another vampire that lunged at her neck, red eyes blank. Thirsty.

"Kyaaa~!" she yelled fearfully, grabbing his arm and flipping him onto his back. She kicked him in the face with the metal part of her steel-toed converse and summoned her scythe, staking it into his heart. His body dissapeared and his soul floated into view. The boy (Handel, was it?), watched the comical sight, a smug grin curving on his lip quickly before it dissapeared just as fast, his face reverting back into that flat, bored stare he usually wore. Handel stood, immobile, too comfortable to bother with fighting for the moment.

"More vamps," alerted the right bracelet, annoyed now with his Meister's lazyness.

"I got it," said Handel with a sigh. He shot his wavelength at them with precision accuracy, not even having to _try_ and be careful not to hit Sarah, he was that exact. "Die, you bloody freaks!" yelled the boy, multicolored eyes flashing murderously as he finished off the remaining attackers, moving with such speed and skill Sarah became confused trying to keep up with the relentlessly efficient assault he delivered. Now, mind you, this all happened within a matter of three minutes.

"Ahahahahaha!" laughed the unknown Meister, blood-splattered and standing before the scene, Kishin egg souls floating around him and his Weapons. His faun-colored greatcoat flapped behind him, the edges frayed from the bottom to nearly the middle of his back. He had jeans on, and a black t-shirt with a red star printed on it, dead center.

"Geez, Handel," said the right bracelet, transforming. "You went overboard again with the slaughtering. Calm down will ya?" Suddenly next to 'Handel' was a boy taller than him, with green eyes and short curly forest green hair. He was wearing jeans as well, but had a grey t-shirt with the sun on it.

"What do you know, Shinei?" retorted Handel; the other bracelet transformed as well. Also next to him now stood a girl the same height as her Meister with hair that was a short bob-cut of khaki-colored yarn, and was tied off at the side with a small pink ribbon. She had a brown t-shirt with the moon on it, and a khaki skirt.

"Well, I thought that was _awesome sauce_," said the girl, smiling.

"You always think killing is fun, Gorosha," said Shinei dissaprovingly of his little twin sister.

"'Cause it is," said Handel simply, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets.

"Hey, you guys?"

They all looked to Sarah with disinterest. "_EH_? It's that girl," said the Meister. "Whaddya want, girlie?"

"Are you guys from the DWMA?"

"What's that?" asked Grorosha with a curious finger on her pink lips. "Sounds cool."

"The school I'm from. You guys are a team of Weapons and Meister, right? We train there to become better at fighting those with evil souls."

"Sounds suspiciously fishie to me," said Shinei. " First, I'd need some proof of this so-called school. Also, I'd like to see a student ID, a birth certificate, your shoe size, your fingerprint, the speific location of the school, and the—,"

"WE GET IT SHINEI!" bellowed Handel. "CAN IT FOR LIKE, FIVE MINUTES!" He waved an open hand in the taller boy's face then turned it into a fist while speaking. Shinei buttoned his lips tightly and looked at his Meister with a sulky stare. "There, that so hard?" Handel asked him, then sighed. "We might be able to go to this school, I'm tired of Forks. Fighting vampires is too easy for me."

"So we're going to school?" Gorosha squealed, jumping up and down. Handel followed her acrobatics act, the bored look _still_ on his face.

He scoffed. "Nah, we're just checking it out. I'm just...bored..."

"Oh, a favor then?" interrupted Sarah, making them all turn to stare at her. The force of all three glares combined made her heart freeze for a second time.

"What?" asked Handel with a bit of a sneer.

"Could you wear colored contacts when you come to the school?" she squeaked.

"WHY WOULD I COVER MY AWESOME EYES, HUH?"

Obviously, the girl was blind to the overwhelming greatness of his unique iruses. Sarah shrugged. "Fine, grumpy," she snapped. "Then I guess Kid-kun will have to beat you up then..."

Handel shrugged as well, as he Gorosha and Shinei walked past the petiete girl. He ruffled her hair and jumped to the windows, his weapons following close behind. Gorosha gave a thumbs up as she hopped away through the splintered glass of the window, her brother nodding in 'goodbye' before he left as well.

Handel looked down to Sarah. "Beat me up?" he nearly snorted. "Don't make me laugh." And then Handel was gone as well.

*A Week Before the Exam*

Struggling to stay awake, our "heroine" Sarah Albarn shuffled down the hallway after her friends, nose buried in the latest volume of _Anima+._ Danny, Maka, and Soul turned right when they came to the corner, but Sarah barely noticed; she kept on walking straight ahead. That is, until she bumped into the corkboard holding the mission panels on the adjoining hallway. Her book went one way, while she went another, landing on her butt and most of the panels with available missions fell. Dazed, she picked herself up and tried to pick up the missions. The bell for dismissal had rung only five minutes ago, and time was running out slowly like the last bit of maple syrup out the bottom of the bottle.

"Great," grumbled the girl, two panels in each hand. She looked at them in mute irritation. "Where do these go?"

"Are you okay?" remarked someone in front of her, undoubtedly male. Unable to concentrate, Sarah fumbled with the panels, nearly dropping them again; realizing that she was panting when they were held steadily within her hands, she looked up a bit frightened at the familiar-yet-foreign voice. He had his hands in his pockets and was a towering six feet; his equally tall and slim female partner stood at his right. Long and straight, her hair was a silky smooth tapestry of shiny ink. Her eyes were quick and luminescent, a pale green about the color of dying grass. She had a way of training them upon an object abruptly and cementing them there as if pondering an elaborate deconstruction of its meaning in life. Sarah squirmed while the older girl now regarded her presence with those ever-stoic orbs of green. Something was familiar in those eyes that she couldn't quite decipher, and eye contact was not Sarah's favorite activity so she merely looked away. During the time she did take to stare upwards at the pair before her, however, her eyes took on disbelief all too quickly.

[The violent thrashing of a heavy metal bas guitar battered the quiet din that permeated the hallways]

_That boy..._

When Sarah picked up her book and did not offer a response, her scratched his short raven hair in confusion. To Sarah, his soul was hard to see...as if it were slumbering behind a layer of fog. [Behind the bass guitar's harsh solo came a low and almost hauntingly smooth clarinet, creating a surprising melody] His partner's soul, on the other hand, was shining, brilliant, like a light blue diamond. In fact it was so bright the shape was indistinguishable as well. Suddenly the boy took off his Ralph Lauren sunglasses; he had probably sensed Sarah peeking at their soul data.

_Her curiosity is amusing..._

"Here, let me help you up," he said, extending one hand, deep brown eyes sparking subtly, interested. Yes, well, while his voice was kind, his smile was striking, one out of a slasher film, and Sarah immediately felt cold upon seeing it, like she'd encountered William again. Adding to that, she was never a truly social person, new people often scared her, boys doubly so in this department. Warmth spread over her cheeks as she decline his offer. "N-n-no, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all!" snapped Sarah, snarling at his hand as if it were piles of rubbish in the street. Inside, though, she cringed. It seemed that being brash was the only way she could cover up her naturally bashful nature. Unflinchingly, he watched her stand once more, noting that she did seem a bit weary. Awkwardly he scratched his head again and glanced away, but made sure that she was still in his peripheral vision. "Oh, okay then."

"Are you new here?" asked his partner, tying to ease the tension already growing. "I've never seen you before."

Sarah felt her voice fail her a bit as she squeaked out a hurried reply. "You could say that..." said Sarah, eyes barely making contact with the other girl's. "Yeah, I've only been here a few weeks." She was nearly inaudible as she continued to grow more uncomfortable under the watch of both strangers. "My name's Sarah Albarn."

By small a fraction, the other girl's eyes brightened even more and she smiled, the warmth of it spreading all the way to her soul. _Albarn? Then she must be related to Spirit and Maka..._ "What a coincidence!" she chirruped, which only made the already nervous younger girl jump. "My name's Sarah too, last name Scaife."

There was a very minute nod of acknowledgement at her statement. "Um~so you two go to school here as well?" It seemed such a ridiculous thing to ask, and the moment Maka's little cousin asked that, she regretted it and blushed so furiously that the redness could be seen all too clearly on her dark face. Both of her new acquaintances chuckled to themselves at the reaction.

"No, no," said the boy. "Ah...I'm actually a teacher." He put his sunglasses back on, and our heroine briefly thought if the terminator for whatever fleeting reason and shivered involuntarily. "The name's Stein. Samuel F. Stein...but please call me Sam. After a while 'professor' makes me feel old and the charm wears off."

"You can all me Ms. Scaife," added his partner in a sidebar comment, "I don't mind it at all!"

"You're related to Pa-...I-I mean Professor Stein?" Surprisingly enough she managed to keep the shock from coloring her tone too much.

Maybe more from embarrassment than annoyance, Sam rolled his eyes. "Yeah he's kind of my da, but what can I do about that?"

"Your da?" repeated Sarah, who was mulling this idea over some more.

"Yes, my father," droned the teen once again, a bit of edge accompanying the affirmation.

O-k~ she was a smidge angry at that. How could Papa Stein not tell her something like this? Yet in the middle of the rant within her mind there was a meow that interrupted her already derailed train of thought, several in fact. "Oh great," muttered the girl as she checked her Hello Kitty watch; the alarm had gone off, which meant only one of three things...

"Something wrong?" piped Ms. Scaife.

Sarah looked away again. "I've got to go to work soon, no biggie..."

"Need someone to walk you or something?"

"Sarah..." protested Sam, giving her an 'are you kidding' glance before he was nudged sharply in the ribs.

"Come on, Sam..." asserted his girlfriend. Her green eyes bored into him at full strength with a surprisingly dangerous look and he sighed.

"Well," began Sarah, beginning to see where this was going. "It's kind of downtown and—"

"We live downtown," said Ms. Scaife breezily. "So it wouldn't be too much trouble."

Sam raised an eyebrow and stared Sarah square in the face, which only made her promptly shift her gaze to something else further away. "Hey isn't your partner going to get worried?"

"Ah! About that..." she poked her index fingers together to distract herself from being too panicky. "Me and my little bro live with Maka and Soul-chan, and I told them I'd be back late."

The manner in which she said it made them slightly suspicious. "Because of work?" asked Sam, attempting to prod more of an answer out of her.

"Not exactly." She scratched her head and giggled a bit to mask her blatant uncomfortableness. "They kind of _don't know_ I have a job. I sort of told them I was on a mission."

"Why?" asked Mrs. Scaife. It was interesting to watch her communicate, very..._Moé._

"That's...a secret..."she mumbled out, before sprinting past them down the hallway only to smack into the wall when she attempted to round the corner, but she picked herself up just as clumsily and disappeared.

"Well," said Sam half to himself. "That was weird...very weird..." he looked to the floor where the mission panels still were lying and frowned. "Did she expect us to clean these up?"

-My Secret Double-life: Exposed?-

The bell jingled quietly when Sarah opened the door to the establishment; she tried her best to smile, despite the fact she was late. " Minna, konichiw-"

"You sure can run fast..." said that same voice from earlier, "but of course, we caught up easily..."

Sarah jumped three feet into the air. "EEEeek!" She came down with a crash, rose to her feet, and pointed a quaking finger at the pair of stalkers she had now recently acquired.

"Calm down, calm down, we were just checking up on you."

"So this is where you work?" said Ms. Scaife, looking around the place. There were small tables all around the café, each made of a very shiny silver and on the square table-faces were short little tablecloths in varying shades of pink and green. At the bar on the left of the main seating space were the other workers milling about. There wasn't much business at the time, so most were taking a break. Almost every one of them had a different type of maid outfit on.

Sam smiled knowingly and nodded, folding his arms. "Knew it."

"Knew what?" said Sarah, blinking to try and conceal her surprise at their boldness. _What kind of teachers follow students to work anyways?_ she thought, to which Kikami replied: _The concerned kind?_

"A girl like you would work in a cute place like this," said Ms. Scaife, looking closely at the large menu over the bar area. It was written in a childish script, some letters drawn backwards, and with interesting names for drinks and other snacks. Eyebrow twitching from irritation, she sighed and turned to leave. _What's that supposed to mean? _she thought, before trying to sneak away.

"Well...This 'as been a nice chat, but I've got to work, so if you don't excuse me..." By the time they knew what hit them, the little girl had dissapeared into a thick pink satin curtain that lead to the kitchen. When she emerged from the bathroom, having changed into her uniform, she picked up her clipboard and pen and strolled through the kitchen and out the curtain to tend to the customers. From behind the bar, Manager Edward Curelle pointed to the lone filled table and nodded to her, pointing at his watch, an indication that he was on break. Sarah looked to the table and her face fell instantly. She looked for the other "maids" she worked with but strangely, none were on duty at present, so it seemed the task of catering to Samuel Stein and Ms. Scaife fell upon her in a heap of dirty laundry. Reluctantly she made her way to the table, trying to be cordial as possible in her greeting. "Welcome to Moé Moé Minute!" said Sarah, fake smile not too convincing.

"Wow," mouthed both of them, looking at her maid outfit.

"What?" she said, smile fading faster than jeans in bleach. Sarah tried to cover her legs, the maid uniform from 'He is My Master' was slightly revealing in more than one way. The ruffled hem stopped near the upper thigh, and it was sleeveless and the chest area was highlighted by only more ruffles. " Stop st-staring, both of you guys!"

"You're too cute~" said Ms. Scaife, laughing at the display. "Let's take a picture, Sam." The teacher materialized a camera from his pocket, and Sarah looked for a way to weasel out of getting her picture taken. An idea needed to form, any at all, no matter how rediculous or stupid. It was a chance but she'd have to take it.

"P-pictures are prohibited," lied the waitress, pausing to stare at some far away point to bolster her obvious untruthful comment. Samuel narrowed his eyes at the girl, making him look more like his father. "Since when?" he asked, "I don't see evidence of any sign here that says that."

"_Oh my Shinigami, look over there!_" said Sarah immediately. Thinking quickly, she took her notepad and pencil from her apron pocket while they were distracted and whipped up a makeshift sign.

"Huh?" said the teachers once they had turned their heads back to find a small note on the table that said 'no photographs alowwed'.

"Wait a sec, where'd this sign come from?" said Sam, pointing to said sign and frowning. "And why is it spelled wrong?"

"What would you like to order?" Sarah smiled once more and held her notepad to jot down any requests. "May I suggest he strawberry strudel, or the strawberry milk, or even—"

"Why all the strawberry?" said Ms. Scaife, the way she even pronounced the word had a very evident fondness attributed to it. Somehow, the medieval multiweappn was picking up on this very clearly. Maybe it was the way her face displayed nearly all emotions she was feeling at any given time?

"Urp," said Sarah at the completely unforeseen question. "Um, strawberries are my favorite that's all." She waved her palms in front of her as if to break up the possibility of them pressing further on the sensitive matter.

"Any particular reason why they are?" Ms. Scaife may have well asked Sarah about what she wrote about in her diary. The workings of love were a subject she'd rather avoid for the most part in idle conversation with semi-strangers.

"N-no none at all." Lies, lies, all of them! Surely they would see though her-

"Don't believe you." Said Sam, interrupting my narraration. A sly, knowing look was his expression. He leaned on his hand, propping his head up on the table. "Your soul jumped when I asked you that...how cute. My Soul Perception is very sensitive, I notice these type of things. Like when someone is _obviously_ _lying_." Ms. Scaife noticed the way she figited after her partner completely dashed Sarah's hopes of trying to salvage her thoughts and try another lie. "Could it be a guy?"she asked, hitting the whack-a-mole on the head. Curious, how she picked up on things like that. The timid waitress licked her lips , looked down and said nothing, mouth pressed into a tight line.

"I sense yes," said Samuel, nodding. Alarmed, Sarah slapped her hands on the table, blush transforming into an even deeper shade. "No. You're wrong!" She protested again, despite how futile it was now that they had both made up their minds. "Definitely a 'yes'," Sam told her, his gaze leveling with hers. He turned to Ms. Scaife and smiled his serial killer grin again. "Now who in the school would you happen to like?" he mused.

"Both of you are so mean," muttered the disgruntled student.

"Black*Star?"

An angry pout. "No WAY." That ninja was too brash, too self-important, too..._.ARGH~ _**annoying **for her to even _consider_ thinking of him more than a rival. Yes, a rival, that's what he was in her eyes. He was a pretty strong opponent, and she wouldn't admit that their first battle wasn't as breezy as it appeared to the rest of them. And maybe that punch she told him to give her stung a _little_ after. Ok, maybe a _lot. _She had no idea why she didn't go soaring like her cousin into the trash, but she was grateful that she didn't Maka's hair still had a slight 'eau de banana peel' to it no matter how much she and Sarah scrubbed with shampoo and conditioner.

"Hmmm...the reading is slight on that one," stated Sam, trying to sort out the inner workings of her mind from his boredom.

"Harvar?" said Ms. Scaife. No reaction~

"Ox?" Not even an eye-batt.

"Kilik?" A small, almost inaudible giggle, then she was stone-faced again. They realized that making her crack was going to be difficult, so the listing of names by Ms. Scaife went on, Sam monitoring her soul's reaction like a polygraph. "Marcell? John? Josheph? Frederick? _Hiro_? Death the Kid?" A reaction there... "Kid?" asked Ms. Scaife again, more cheerful this time.

"No, not especially," said the girl firmly, "he's more like a son to me." In a very generous feeling today, Sam decided she was telling the truth.

"Daniel?" added Ms. Scaife, hoping for a more direct reaction.

"GROSS! That's my little brother!"  
"Then how about Sou-"

"Alright, let's hear your order!" She whipped out the notepad and pencil again before the question was finished.

"Wait...Soul?"

"Makes sense," explained Sam. "His eyes are red, just like strawberries."

Steam exploded from Sarah's ears as her face deepened into a deep russet color. _Teachers know my secret. Teachers know my secret, _she thought. Right now was a great time to have mind-erasing powers for her. _Lighten up, _said Kikami. _Everyone will know soon enough anyways._ "I did not give you permission to comment!" screeched the Meister to that antagonizing voice in her subconscious.

"Huh?" said both older teenagers.

"Oops." She covered her mouth. If people knew about Kikami she'd probably be put away in an asylum somewhere. "Nothing!"

"No, wait..." Tilting his head to the side, the Medieval Arts Meister strained his hearing, trying to pick out that strange voice. "I do think I heard something, if only for a second."

"Eh?" Maybe she wasn't crazy after all. Kikami giggled again. _Wow, he's a sharp one isn't he? _"Shut up, Kikami," she muttered.

"Who's Kikami?" asked Ms. Scaife.

"N-no one! I'll go get your orders!"

"But," he was left with his comment unfinished as she disappeared at warp speed behind the curtain again. "We didn't order anything," sighed Sam. He was trained in many areas of expertise, was a more than capable fighter, and had taught more than hundreds of students how to attack using their wavelength directly, yet this girl was so infuriatingly _unpredictable_ he could not stifle a groan. It took nearly twenty minutes for her to return with beverages on a silvery platter. Each step she took near to the table was a carefully planned thing, as if she was trying to keep herself steady the whole time. A small, relieved sigh escaped her lips before she set down the liquid-filled containers and smiled brightly to her customers. "Here. For the professor: coffee, black, no sugar, no milk, and a diet 7up for Ms. Scaife."

They both looked at the orders before them and gave her incredulous looks. "What?" she asked in reply to their staring, eyes dull-looking and slightly dark under them. Right now was a time that Sam realized something was more than just off with this student. "Thanks," he said, but how'd you know what we'd like?"

"Is it not to your tastes?" In her voice he sensed a trace of self-assurance.

"It is," he began, "but-,"

"Then it's irrelevant how I know," she snapped, not sounding in the slightest a bit penitent for peeking inside their thoughts for just a short time. Sometimes that ability would fade in and out at the most trivial moments, but she used it when she could.

"Sounds fishy to me…" he muttered, causing her to roll her eyes. How many times was she to hear _that_ during a week? First that Weapon with the irritable and insanely powerful Meister, and now a teacher who had become her adoptive brother by default. And on top of it, he probably didn't even know she existed before their meeting. _How **great**. _"So does your wavelength," she folded her arms and grimaced. "Doesn't mean _I_ jump to conclusions, does it?"

"Touché…wait sounds?"

"I…umm….yes, your wavelength sounds _off,_" she admitted reluctantly. He nodded in acknowledgement to hear some more. Not many Meisters and Weapons could _hear_ souls with their Soul Perception. Tsubaki, he knew, could hear certain tones, but she was just a Weapon, and so far one of the few he knew personally that could do that in addition to having Soul Perception despite the fact she was Weapon.

"How so?"

For her explanation she pulled down a chart from out of nowhere as always in anime. With her "Each soul, has a tone to it. Concentrate hard enough; it sort of takes the sound of a song or an instrument."

"And me?" he said, awaiting the answer patiently. Why did boys act like this? she wondered. They figure out something about you and they ask you more questions. Presently, he was technically her big brother, so why bother trying to complain and get out of telling him? Besides, he wasn't an all around bad guy, he had a coolness to him, she thought. Obviously she wasn't going to tell him _that_, but it was fun to think about once Sarah got down to it. She closed her eyes and tried to listen again. [Again, the weighty reverberating of a low and robust guitar seemed to jostle the silence, and once more the erethreal and bone-chilling clarinet followed soon after.] Being the person that he seemed to be, Sarah guessed that the first Wavelength was the one belonging to Sam. "It's deep and powerful…" she said in answer to his inquiry."Earth-shaking…like a bass guitar …but..."

"But what?"

[The distortion in the quality of sound was apparent if she strained to hear it better] Sarah's eyebrows knit together. "It's like you've plugged it into an amp and turned the gain & tone to insane levels, like...maybe for a death metal song."

"Interesting," was all he said before leaning back in his seat, enmeshing his fingers together, and gazed at his coffee mug as the steaming liquid within slowly cooled. "And Sarah's?"

"I'd like to know what mine sounds like," said Ms. Scaife, "what's it like?"

"A clarinet," said Sarah. "It compliments his bass in a very...creepy way. I don't know how to explain. Your wavelength makes me feel like, someone is following, or maybe a ghost is nearby. Scared, of what you both can do, maybe."

*...four hours later*

At eight, Sarah nearly choked on her words when she walked out of the kitchen wearing her normal clothes again. "Whew, finally I get to lea-"

"Want us to walk you home?" asked Samuel, hands in his pockets and leaning near the doorway. Sarah frowned to see that he and his partner were still here. The fact that she was working here was supposed to be a secret, and if she wanted it kept, then she was going to have to at least compromise. At least, that's what she thought. If there was something that Samuel and Sarah were good at, it was keeping secrets, but our Sarah didn't know that, nor would she have believed that. Trust was a thing that was not given so freely by her.

"Home? No, I've got to go somewhere else before that."

...

"You're kidding…" said the two teachers who for some reason decided to tag along with her. Before them was a building that looked strangely like Chupa Cabras. On the outside, it was mostly black brick with grey mortar in between the cracks. Above, the name of the business flashed in blue and pink letters: Pitarii Shugo Tenshi. In an exaggerated way of walking, Sarah had led them here, stood in front of the place, put her hands on her hips, and beamed a smile that registered a 100 degrees Celsius in terms of warmth. Confuzzuled as to why she would need a job at all, Sam stole a glance at his partner who gave him her own squiggly awkward smile and shrugged good-naturedly. He just had to comment on it, or else what was the point of following this particular student?

"A second job?" he asked, skeptical that such an easily distracted girl could hold a steady job, let alone two, on top of her schoolwork. "At a….?" Words fled from him as he tried to figure out what this place was. A cabaret club? No, that would be too risky; Spirit was her uncle, right? Didn't he hang out at those places? Professor Samuel Stein knew she wasn't _completely _stupid as to work where her uncle did if she wanted it to be a secret. He knew for a solid fact that Spirit was known to tell-all if and when enough alcohol was offered.

"It's a Host Club," she said, without a trace of impatience. Either it was the fact that night had fallen, or the transition to her second job, but e Sarah was acting almost, _pleasant_. Her smile never waned, even when she caught the two older adolescents eyeing her, bamboozled. "Host Club…?" said Ms. Scaife echoed, curiosity peaked. The two words put together in the same term did not register with the duo.

"Yes, I'm a hostess here." Said Sarah, as if she was explaining the secret to world peace. Her eyes were doubly serious, nearly black in the moonlight, and she wagged a finger as if making a profound point. "I just started, and if you guys want to follow me … if they ask, you've got to say that I'm 18."

"Ok…but why?" said the two in unison, smiling at some unmade joke in their minds.

"You've got to be 18 to work here," she said, a bit nervously, throwing in at the end when she saw their eyebrows shoot off their faces: "And not for the reason you think, okay!"

"Wasn't even thinking it," said Samuel, coughing into his hand and looking up to the moon. Blood was still dripping from its mouth. It had been doing that a lot as of late, and frankly, in his way of seeing it, that presented a very bad omen. "It would be breaking the rules though, right?"

A Pepto-bismol toungue poked out of her mouth to show that she didn't really care. "**Screw The Rules**,"said the anarchist with relish. "I have _cosplay_!" And with that stolen phrase, Sarah pushed open the doors and marched into the building, energy pumping, more than ready to take on another shift of work. "Konichiwa e-ve-ry-one!" She made a big show of waving enthusiastically as she entered, steps exaggeratedly childish, eyes opened wide to look innocent and naive. Club owner/overseer Clark Kenneth shuffled over to the trio, his ruffled apron spread over the floor-sweeping pink and white dress mankind small swishing sounds as he went. Mr. Kenneth was the type of man who wasn't afraid to show his feminine side, _all_ of the time. His long waves of silky hair shone under the lights in a deep cardboard tint and reached past the middle of his back. "Oh, Sarah-chan you're here!" he nearly sang, his voice a smooth, gentle seesaw, that went from low and deep to high and loud in only a few syllables. "There's a few guests who've been wa~iting for you." It took only five seconds to notice she wasn't alone, and the thick rows of false eyelashes fluttered repeatedly as Clark blinked the astonishment away from his grey-blue eyes. "Oh~," he gave them a smile of even, nicely polished pearly whites. "And just who are these two?"

"Friends!" exclaimed Sarah, sounding like a toddler. Her lower lip poked out slightly and she put one finger on it. "They don't know what a host club is."

_Fresh meat, _thought Mr. Kenneth, trying not to salivate from the joy of new customers. "Really~?" He reached into the pocket on his apron, producing two pink cards. "Here fill out these guest cards, and we'll get started. Any friends of Sarah are friends of ours." He also threw in the fact that the guest cards were scented, and at the mention of that aspect of them, the two smelled the pink squares. _Roses,_ thought Ms. Scaife, sniffing the perfumed paper. _Blood,_ thought Sam, a bit disturbed, taking the item away from his nose as fast as he possibly could. Watching them, Mr. Kenneth bobbed his head like a pigeon strutting and went back to Sarah, who had been waiting for him to dismiss her to the guests that had requested for her company."By the way, cutie," he said, leaning in so close that she could smell the cool minty aroma of his mouthwash. "What outfit and act do you have prepared tonight?"

Keeping in her self-chosen hostess character of 'Lolita' she looked to him. Playing with her hair while rocking on her feet, Sarah put a finger over her lips and said: "_Himitsu desu_!"

"Aw~," said the owner. "How moé, I could just eat you for dinner."

...

After four hours, Sarah's shift was over, and home with her cousin and friends was soon awaiting. Sam and Sarah Scaife had an interesting time hanging out with her. For one thing, it turned out that a host club was basically a place for people to be entertained. It differed from the Cabaret club in that not only was there female hostesses, but male hosts as well. Plus, there was a whole lot less drinking, and the conversations were more meaningful than usual. Most hosts or hostesses would take turns being the entertainment, which meant they had to go on the stage in front of the whole club, before all those couches and tables of guests and hosts, and put on a little mini-show. Some sang, some danced, and others even read poetry or did sock puppets. One thing was constant, though, they all were wearing some kind of costume from some kind of show. Sarah? Hers was a yellow dress with a high white collar with bow around the neck, and when it was her turn to get up there, it was to sing. Her song was about a pink flower, a kiss, and high school love: _Sakura Kiss_. After the small round of applause she returned to her couch of lolicon guests + the two new acquaintances she brought, and went back to work at keeping them happy.

By the time she got home, she was dead asleep. The night's festivities were tiring, and Sam had to carry her to the apartment. Ms. Scaife rang the doorbell and both waited until someone would answer.

Meanwhile, Maka sat in the lving room worrying if something horrid was happening on the mission, when she heard the doorbell and immediately calmed down. "It must be Sarah!" said the Meister to herself, speed-walking to the foyer and taking a deep breath to supply the earful she was going to give Sarah. "Young lady," said Maka, eyes closed, opening the door. Ms. Scaife smiled to see Maka, but Sam scowled as the girl began her rant without noticing them. "Why hadn't you called? Surely that mission wasn't so hard that you were gone for so long? I was so worried, where have you bee-," At the end of her small paragraph she had opened her eyes to try and pull off the furious, worried mother look, but she didn't expect her to come home like _this_. "…Professor Sam? Ms. Scaife?" What were some of the academy's best Meister/Weapon pair doing, carrying little old Sarah home? And she was asleep at that.

"Shhh its us, yeah…" said Samuel softly, winning in his resistance to roll his eyes. With a jerk of his head he pointed to the load he was carrying. "Sarah 'ere we met on our way home," he lied, putting a bit of sweetness into his voice. "Poor thing," he said, eyes extra brown and sympathetic. "She must be tired coming from her mission." That little girl owed them for keeping this secret, alright. During his speech, Danny had awoken; rubbing his eyes, and snuck up beside Maka and lay his head on her shoulder. Thumb in his mouth, the little boy was wearing a brand new pair of bright blue flannel jammies with ducks all over them and neon yellow ducky slippers, bought courtesy of his big sister. It was one of the reasons she took on the job, and if she was awake to see him dressed in his new clothes, she would probably squeeze the life out of him in a hug so tight it'd suffocate the boy.

"Yare yare," murmured Ms. Scaife. One hand held her cheek as she smiled to herself and signified her agreement with one dip of her head. "When we found her she was really exhausted walking home, and collapsed in Sam's arms, nearly dropped her cake in the process." She lifted a small white plastic bag, which made it ruffle. "I think it's for you all."

"So, don't be too rough on her when she wakes up, okay?" added Sam good-naturedly. Yup, she owed him big time for being so amiable so late at night and for an unreasonable reason. Feeling more or less emotionally drained, Maka sighed a long puffy breath out. She'd chew her out about this later.

"Ane-chan brought cake?" said Danny, grabbing the bag and skipping into the kitchen. He pulled out the plain white cardboard pastry box and did a little victory dance. "Yay~"

"Shh!" said the older ones. He stopped dancing and put the box on the counter. "sorry~" he whispered.

"Soul-kun is a naughty….." muttered Sarah in her sleep. On her face was a small impish smile, and a small bit of drool leaked out of the corner of her lips.

_Eh? _thought everyone. Sam thought this a great opportunity to leave. "So it seems we'll be going now," he told Maka, walking to the couch and placing the dreamer on it. He did have to admit that when she was asleep she was a lot less vicious and brash. Maybe even cute...no he wouldn't go _that_ far. Maka nearly forgot, she'd probably inferred correctly that Professor Stein wasn't going to tell him but since Sam was here and all, she figured why not now?

"Oh, Professor Sam?" she said softly, to not wake up the still sleeping roommates.

"Yes?"

"Did Professor Stein tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Danny walked into the living room and sat in front of the TV facing the young professor. "He adopted Ane and me!"

"What?" said Sam, face contorting in an emotion close to pain, but stronger than surprise and a hint of anger. "So…that means…" he said, almost glumly.

"Yeah," Maka said this almost with a mocking tone."She's your adopted sister now."

_..._

_But why? _Thought the Medieval Arts Meister, melancholyly musing over the future encounters with the completely unpredictable girl who was now his sister.

Ms. Scaife, who had sat through most of their back and forth conversation, looked to her boyfriend with interest mingled with amusement. "She's strange, isn't she?" declared the tall girl, hands behind her back. She was already planning to bring Sam back to where the little scoundrel worked.

"Indeed..." he said, looking to the sky. The moon was laughing at them, he just knew it.

-Day of the test-

Very much like horses awaiting the opening of starting gates, all the students of Class Crescent Moon held their pencils only millimeters above their test papers. Well, not exactly all. Yes, Death the Kid was busy still fervently sharpening his two pencils to the same length, as well as Liz behind him, who was staring with equal intensity at the severe split ends already forming from neglecting hair care in exchange for studying in the past few nights. Soul was sitting back comfortably in his seat, hands folded behind his neck; he was stationed right beside the brilliant Maka, who waited the call to action even more eagerly than the rest of the class. However, Soul's seat next to Maka didn't last long, to his disappointment. Daniel, little Danny Albarn was anxious, his older sister Sarah once again had to wake her so she would not miss the exam. At the moment, though, she was stationed over the papers in a heap of disinterest and exhaustion. Good thing she asked for the day off from work today.

Patty was beside Lucifer, busy playing with the foodie attached to his vest, the poor warlock held onto the hood for dear life to make sure it stayed on his head. He hated going out around humans without it, for his fuzzy little tiger ears were extremely visible, and would attract undue attention to himself. He was actually a very shy little weapon, but had big dreams of being a powerful evil warlock so he could protect his big sister. Lucifer could always dream, that was never going to happen. His sister made it specifically clear that she was a good witch and that he should follow her example. But for some reason he had the urge to be naughty and cause mischief, he didn't know exactly why. As to the being a powerful warlock, he could barely master the most basic spells, thanks to his mixed witch-human heritage. Zelda sat in the direct center of the room by Kid's request, that way he could admire her afar from his seat to calm himself during the exam. Her symmetrical appearance was one of the key aspects of her beauty, and seeing as he was the only one who truly appreciated symmetry...ahem, perhaps we should not dwell too much on what Kid was thinking, shall we?

Well, Zelda herself wasn't nervous in the least, she sat staring at the paper, blinking slowly. Secretly though, more than anything she was excited. Excited that Death actually accepted her into the school, excited that she and Lucifer were truly going to be protected from their wicked aunt, and most of all, ecstatic that she had actually made a pact with Lord Death's son. Sitting next to her, the taller boy looked at her closely, seeming to try and decipher where he had seen her before. His steely blue eyes were serious and slightly moody, as if he was always prepared for battle, maybe even suspicious of the girl next to him. But his assumptions were kept to himself as he turned his attention back to what instructions Mr. Sid was relaying to them. Why in the first place did he need to take this test again? The teen sighed and scratched his coffee-colored hair, it was spiked back and fairly long for a guy, but on him and his sharp features it was mighty flattering. He figured it was just another way for Death to make him feel like a normal student, though how that was possible was left to be seen, he at one point _did _battle him and nearly one too if it wasn't for one small thing... but that was in the past, way long before anyone in the school. Mostly anyone anyway, like the girl sitting next to him, for example. Of course, Erik knew nothing about her, so how could he know she was around a few hundred years ago? Or the fact that she was a witch? No chance at that any time soon.

...

"Yahoo!" shouted a very familiar hyperactive knucklehead ninja from the front of the room. Everyone jumped in their seats at the sudden disturbance and looked up from their tests. "You guys see how _amazing_ I am? I have my own _special_ desk all to myself." Nearly every Weapon and Meister in the room gave Black*Star some kind of disdainful look at the same time, which he very quickly (and incorrectly) interpreted as looks of awe at his greatness. True, at the very front of the room, placed dead center in front of the giant timer, sat a lone desk especially for Black*Star. Behind him was Soul in his own little isolated island of misery, at the bluenette's cry of 'yahoo' the albino had slammed his head into the flat surface in front of him and tried his best not to cry. Granted, the only reason they were in these assigned seats was because of last time's (failed) attempts at cheating, and Sid was not going to have that again, no way, that wasn't the type of guy he was. So the second Soul and company decided to settle into their seats in testing area, their zombiesque teacher pointed to the mischievous short boy and reluctant musician and then to the desks reserved for those with special behavioral problems.

Now the fun was really to begin. Sid swept his gaze over the classroom to check that everyone was in order, keeping a special gaze on the two trouble makers up front. "Alright," he announced loud enough so the whole room could hear. "You have an hour and a half to complete the exam, keep your eyes on your own paper." He pointed to the students, gave them one stern look as they buzzed with anxiety, and yelled "Begin!"

...

Kid turned his attention to the paper and picked up both pencils, writing in the answers with his equally strong hands. Ambidexterity was a very useful trait if one was as obsessed with symmetry as he was. This time, he made sure to psyche himself out about the writing the name thing. For sure, this time he was to finish. His name was already perfect enough, he reasoned, each letter when written in capitals had its own line of symmetry, so it was fine, just fine. On the other hand, after signing his autograph on the answer sheet, Black*Star stared at the paper much like he had last night while studying.

..._30 min later_...

A few small marks were jot down, only to be scrubbed away two seconds later with a small and stubby pink eraser. Danny clutched onto his pencil for dear life, gnawing on the eraser part from the sheer stress of it all. To his left, his Ane-chan was asleep; test in front of her in a neat pile, bunny eraser topped mechanical pencil resting on the stack. It couldn't be that she was finished already, now, could it? Last night she came home late again, another mission Sarah had told them. Somehow he didn't believe her entirely though. Why so many missions back to back then? Without him? No, she had to be lying. He had worried about it for the past two weeks, in fact. Maka had tried to get his mind off of it by helping him study for the exam, but he was nearly as jittery as Sarah herself. Ten minutes wouldn't go by without him getting up to pace, play with his bangs, get a glass of water, or take a bathroom break. And even then, the little scythe had a doubly hard time absorbing the information he had just went over. His sister, on the other foot, was only capable of studying at the host club. Much thanks to Sam and Ms. Scaife, she had learned the information front and back. Sam himself didn't believe at first that they could help the procrastinating little hostess remember a semester and a half of material, yet they somehow did. Maybe it was just luck, or even the power of the Mary Sue Syndrome, but one truth prevailed: it was a miracle. However, she had only energy enough to flip through the exam, scratch down some things that sort of maybe made sense, and go back to catching up on her missed hours of sleep.

Lucifer tried inching away bit by bit from the Demon Gun, and not soon after, Patty followed to harass him some more. Tsubaki wrote down another incorrect answer to yet another trick question planted by Stein. Right before that though, Liz confidently wrote down the six phases to prepare for Soul Resonance, and then checked her nails to see if the pink nail polish applied the night before was still remaining perfectly unchipped. Sarah snored, Maka wrote, Black*Star stared, and Soul stared as well. Ten minutes later, Ox finished his test, and Maka seethed, indignant at his smug attitude. Scribbling fiercely, she resolved to surpass him in every answer.

A tiger's loud yowl could be heard just as the timer for the test to finish buzzed. Patty spit out some fur from her mouth and rubbed her face. "You don't taste like Frosted Flakes," she said, almost furious, and began to give him the silent treatment.

-The next day-

Posted on the board the next day were the following class rankings:

First: Maka Albarn- 100 pts.

Second: Death the Kid- 100 pts.

Third: Ox Ford- 99 pts.

Fourth: Sarah Albarn- 98 pts.

Fifth: Erik Altezio- 96 pts.

Sixth: Daniel Albarn- 94 pts.

Seventh: Kilik Rung- 93 pts.

Eighth: Zelda Kitsune- 92 pts.

"First again!" Maka squealed and held up her hands, invitations for high-fives. Soul and Sarah smacked her open palms in acknowledgement and the sound echoed even in the hustle in bustle of the hallway.

"Yay Ane-chan!" Sarah said. "Top of your class!"

"Told you'd get the highest again, bookworm," encouraged Soul as well. He had never doubted for a second that Maka would receive less than 100% on the exam. She was practically a walking library for Shinigami's sake, not only that but in connection to anything even remotely related to academics, the bright-eyed book smart blonde was pretty much OCD about studying. Once, he swore he found her passed out over her textbooks to study up for the pop quiz the next day. Yet somehow in the middle of all this he noticed someone was missing. He looked around slowly. "Hey, guys...where's Danny?"

...

"I saw you over there, and I just wanted to say...great job on the exam..."

"R-R-really? I uh I studied real hard for it is all."

"So...you wanna hang out some time?"

"S-sure, where? Usually I just stay at home though."

"Anywhere's fine."

"How about that new cafe? The one they just opened?"

"Moe Moe Minute?"

"Yeah, that."

"Meet you at, fiveish? After school tomorrow?"

"Sure, sounds good, Danny, bye!"

* * *

_**Okay, Roll Call! First off, all those who aren't my Original Characters! First up: Samuel Stein!**_

**Sm:** (covers ears) Oi! I'm here, don't have to yell!

_**Sarah Scaife!**_

**Sh:** Here as well

**Sm & Sh:** We belong to the Lord of all Chaos!

_**Minora? Erik Altezio?**_

**Mi:** (shyly)….here

**Er:**...

_**Erik Altezio! (gives him a death glare) Answer darn you!**_

**Er:** (sighs) You already know I'm here…..

**Er & Mi:** We belong to Allen Bedlam Trahurn...

_**(scowls) ...well then moving on! Now my OCs! It's the ever getting weirder Sarah Albarn! **_

**Sa:** Here I am!...wait, weird?

**The Crowd:** _RAWWWWRS!_

**Er:** (rolls eyes) Why does she get all the praise,huh?

_**(ignores comment) Daniel Albarn! **_

**The Crowd:** Rawwrs!

**Da:** (get's afraid) Eep! Ane! (hides behind Sarah)

**Sa:** (sweatdrops) It's okay Danny…..

_**William Albarn!**_

**Everyone:** BOOO…Hisss~!

**Will:** Hey! I'll kill you all!

(The crowd falls silent)

_**Shinei & Gorosha Kuroi, and the God Mode Marty Stu: Handel Cross **_

**Shi:** Whats up!

**Go:** Hiya peoples *thumbs up*

**Had:** Whatever, how's it going…

_**(looks around) I guess that's everyone...**_

**Hann: **What about me?

_**Oh, you'll appear later on Hannah, don't worry! (grin)**_

**Zel:** What about us?

**Lu:** Yah you tell um sis!

_**(strolls off unconcerned) LA LAla lala~**_

**Zel & Lu:** She's...seriously sadistic...

* * *

**A/N:** There's a wiki now on this fanfic, Soul Eater: Noir Ange, on wikia. com. Edit it as you see fit? Well not really but I hope you all contribute. There's also a Facebook page and everything. Expect a new ending theme as well next chapter...Oh, and I have paused at this point to write a chapter for each of my other fanfictions, plus my original story, will be back soon, don't worry, love yas! ~ Webidolchiu94


	10. Chapter 8

**Sa:** _Lalala... *is drawing on a piece of paper in her room*_

**So: **_*suddenly walks in unannounced* Whatcha' doin' Sarah?_

**Sa:**_ Eh? SOUL? *drops pen and pencils and runs away*_

**So: **_Well...didn't expect this... *sweatdrops*_

_*Sarah now is in the kitchen with Maka staring at what she's doing*_

**Ma: **_By any chance why're you?_

**Sa:** _Cooking? No reason..._

**Ma**: Okay…*looks to Danny, who's studying at the dining table* How's the studying going?

**Da**: *smiles* great! Did you know that a sound soul—

**Ma & Sa**: _dwells within a—_

_*Minnora stretches and gets up from the couch* *Shadow leans on the couch's arm with an irritated look on her face*_

**Mi:** _Sound Mind and body._

**All**_:….really Minnora-chan?_

**Mi:** _….? Did I say something wrong?_

_*Hannah shakes her head while still sitting on the couch* _

**Ha**: _Not at all, that's exactly right! _

**Sha:**_ Now on to our debut, I guess…_

**Sa**: _I thought it was __**my **__debut! _

**All**: _Whatever, Sarah…_

**Sa: **_**GRRRR! **__You're all so mean!_

**Sha: **_No, you're just a brat…._

**Sa: **_What was that? *Stomps over to Shadow, who presses her nose against Sarah's as they stare each other down*_

**Ma: **_*Steps in between the pair* Calm down and let's begin…._

**Mi: **_…A-A-A s-sound mind dwells within….a…a…I mean a sound soul dwells…_

**Ha: **_*interrupts* within a sound mind and sound body! Wait…didn't we already say this? Oh well!_

* * *

_A Bracelet, a memory, and a future, that's what you left me with... _-_unknown_

_Whoever finds this note, please uncover the truth. That's all I ask. -Higurashi No Naku Karo Ni_

* * *

Chapter Eight: Selenic Soul? - Sarah's electric guitar debut

Several gentle chords of an airy classical tune floated throughout the apartment. Sarah sighed at the sound and bit her lip. Sooner or later she had to confess to him the truth. Not only that, but this essay for Papa Stein's class was proving to be a feat. The prompt was: "Write something about the person you admire the most," though what that had to do with Phasmology and souls was beyond her. Sarah had no problem finding a person she could write about. At first, she thought that maybe Maka-Ane-chan would be a good subject, but decided not to last minute. Her cousin wasn't exactly who she admired _most._

Hesitantly, Sarah picked up her pen.

"_I stared at the clock expectantly," _she began to write, but stopped short.

_Oh no, not again_.

She leaned back in the chair sharply, the weak wooden frame creaking under the sudden shift in weight.

"Ah!" she shrieked, pulling at her pigtails, tugging them again and again in dismay. "Curse this writer's block!" Sarah leaned forward and pounded the desk with her fist. "Dammit!"

It was only when she sat upright again, that she noticed that the soft piano music trilling from the living room had stopped. When Soul suddenly appeared in the doorway and knocked on the open door, she jumped nearly ten feet out of her seat in alarm.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

Reluctantly, Sarah turned around and looked at the weapon, a slight blush rising on her face. She'd been enjoying the music, 'till it ended.

"No, I'm all right," she assured him. Meanwhile, her mind was sorting out how to breathe when in his presence. _That's it,_ she thought, an idea slowly forming like rainclouds on a stormy day.

"Well, I'll be—," said Soul, but he was interrupted by sound effects that weren't supposed to be here. _BANG! CRASH! CLATTER, Rrrrr. _There was a small screech, a high, frightened yell of "Ane-sama!" and then quiet. From the kitchenette, a small bowl rolled on its side until it finally met with Soul's foot in the doorway. He sighed then smiled."Maka, Danny, are you okay?"

Beneath the pots and pans, Maka spoke. "Yeah, I'm fine, but dinner's gonna be a little late."

"S'better than none at all," said Soul with a slight grimace. "You know your cousin's cooking could probably kill the Kishin by itself." Ignoring the comment, Sarah turned to face the desk and began writing once more. Sure, last time she tried her hand at cooking dinner everyone had been..._slightly _ill for a while afterward. Even Soul, who could eat the most rancid foods known to man, could not stomach the concoction she had brewed. Oh... that pissed her off something nasty, alright. Danny had repainted the bathroom all by himself that night. Despite the memory she moved on back to her work, she still wasn't finished and to make things better: it was due **tomorrow**. Procrastination seemed like such a good idea this past week.

…

_It's second hand was moving choppily around the face._ _And in time with the ticking, _she scribbled down furiously, _the soothing tones of a grand piano sounded. Each resonated wonderfully, sending chills up and down my spine. Seated at the great instrument was the most amazing boy I know. His fluffy, vanilla-scented white hair, was sticking out perfectly, casting sinister shadows around his sallow face, cherry red eyes closed, lost in the music. Soul Eater Evans, one my best friends. When he plays, he's beyond a badass..._

…

After a few more paragraphs she set down the pen. Again, a blush floated to the surface of her features as Sarah read it over. _Maybe the prompt should have been the person you __**desire **__the most, _teased Kikami in between her chuckles. At that comment, she changed her mind again, picking up the folder of sheet music on her desk and wedging it in between a copy of _Pain_ and _Smells Like Teen Spirit_.

Thirty minutes later she finished yet another essay (this one about Maka) and went to join her friends for dinner. Danny had begged his older cousin to not try and cook anymore, for fear that any more pan avalanches would occur. The loud noises had scared him considerably, and hurt his ears. To convince her he stretched his eyes wide and puppy like, and blinked rapidly to add to the overly exaggerated cute look.

At his pitiful face, Maka immediately gave up trying to oppose him and ordered takeout, so they all were waiting for the food to arrive. She smiled to see her cousin looking so lively as the girl bounded into the living room with a lavender project folder and practically floated onto the couch to sandwich herself in between Danny and her. "Maka-Ane-chan! I wrote my essay about you!" Sarah handed her the folder with glee.

"Wow," Maka blinked to quell her surprise. Was she really someone to be admired? "Ano...Thanks Imouto...I sort of wrote mine about my mom though," she admitted a bit guiltily.

"S'okay," she replied, not even caring if someone wrote about her. What mattered most right now was Maka's critique. "Read it please?"

Amused, Maka leafed through the folder and inadvertently plucked out both essays. She saw the one labeled "MAKA ALBARN", read it over quickly, and smiled in approval of the flattering description of her character. "That's so sweet, Sarah," she said when finished. "I love it."

"Really?" Her eyes were sparkling with accomplishment. Maka-Ane-chan loved reading, so if she liked it must have been good.

"Absolutely...But," a pouty Cheshire grin emerged from the older girls slender lips. "What's this second one? It has Soul's name on it."

Sarah looked askance, to where Soul was currently milling around in the kitchen.

"Let's hear it then," he said, getting the Styrofoam plates from their hiding spot. "It's probably just as cool as yours truly."

"But," protested Sarah. "I..."

"C'mon," whined Soul and Danny. The younger wondering why his Ane didn't pick him as a subject. He was just as cool as Soul! Hmph, cuter too, she _should_ have picked him.

"No." Angry tears were welling up in her eyes. "I don't want you to read it!"

"Fine," agreed Maka and Soul, not wanting to see her cry. Maka put both essays back where they belonged and tiptoed over to Sarah's room and placed the folder on her bed. While she did though, the doorbell rang and Danny and Sarah rushed for it. "I'll get it!" they yelled at the same time. Danny pushed past Sarah, and the girl did the same, both tripping over each other's feet in a mad dash to open the door.

Soul got there before the misguided duo. He handed the money to the delivery boy before taking the food, slamming the door, and setting it down on the table. "Oi, guys?" He looked to Danny and Sarah, who were wrestling each other on the floor.

"I want to get the door, Ane!"

"No, _me_!" said Sarah to the younger, pinning him to the floor. But the little boy was pretty much just as strong and he wiggled from her grip, trying to escape to the foyer.

"_I_ want to get the door!" he repeated.

"I want to!" said Sarah again.

"I-,"

Maka whistled loud and high, two fingers in her mouth. "Children," she said softly at first, but then she raised the volume on her voice, taking on a more maternal tone. "It is time for dinner, so stop fighting or no dessert!"

"... when did Soul get the food?" asked Danny and his big sis. Maka and Soul only looked to the two and shook their heads.

*Five Months Earlier*

"I think," said Medusa slowly, "it's time for us to turn our eyes back to good old #4."

William laughed once, sharply, nearly like a seal's mocking bark. He then looked at the surveillance screen and tapped it. "You really think so, dearest?" Will's voice held some malice, but mostly it was sheer resentment for the being displayed on the monitor.

Medusa pecked him on the cheek and nodded. "Yes. I believe she's healed sufficiently from our latest experiments. She regarded him from the corner of her eye. "Wouldn't you say her endurance is remarkable?"

"Nothing short of amazing," he remarked dryly, but couldn't help but add: "For a human." He then looked back at the witch with unmasked curiosity. "What is it you find about humans so fascinating anyway?" Funny, how he didn't consider himself human anymore.

"Oh, Will, You're so cute when you ask like _that_," said Medusa regally. "Well, as a Witch and a scientist, I'm a student of all sciences and biologies. Still, humans do... have a certain _allure_ for me you could say. They rarely do give up or give in to the tortures forced upon them."

She had sent so many frail humans into the underground courses of her compound, winding mazes with no discernible end. If the subject stopped for too long in one spot, the magic would shock their wits until they started moving again. The rule also applied if they went down the wrong corridor of the maze or tried to escape.

But there were a few exceptions that had to press on, ever so adamant in their resolve to escape the brutality. For those escapees a few years back had to be found, and _that_ issue was yet to fix itself.

Medusa leaned back in her chair and thought about the Weapons her little nephew had liberated. She would come for the three of those rebellious mutts soon, but for now they still were safe. If her calculations were correct, her sister's son would soon lose his ability to cast Soul Protect, and the wavelength of his Dual Soul would eventually destabilize. Yes, the results would be fascinating to watch unfold, she was sure of it. Which was why when it happened, Medusa had to obtain front row seats to the event.

However, the witch still frowned upon thinking of the group she now had under her manicured thumbs. Number Four was unstable mentally, even before the experiments and implantation of the second soul. She suspected it had something to do with her friend in whom she placed the snake, but the witch couldn't be completely sure of that. Often the girl was found sitting in a corner of her bed, rocking and muttering to herself, even getting angry and yelling insults and threats to be quiet. Why, this week alone she'd lost a few lackeys trying to extract another sample of the girl's peculiar blood. Medusa disliked problems, and that specific one needed to be fixed very soon, along with the one related to a newer trouble-making captive.

Yes, prisoner number four _and _prisoners six and seven had to be disciplined for being naughty, ungrateful children.

She spread out their files on the desk before her and did the witch version of eeny-meeny-miny moe to pick out who would go first. Medusa's index finger landed on prisoner seven, and she grinned. It didn't really matter who was going first, but she hadn't visited seven in person for a long while, not after she massacred her family and stole the child away.

Correction, the child and her Weapon. Six had tried to fight down to her last breaths, but her Meister talked of strategic retreat, since the Witch was too strong. Once in her custody, Six didn't put up much of a fight without Seven, and without Six, Seven had no chance of ever escaping. So it was win-win in the Witch's eyes.

She put on her hood and gave William another kiss on the cheek right before she left to visit seven. "I almost can't wait," she told herself.

But to Medusa's shock, the girl called Shadow was nowhere to be found.

Peeking her petite face around the corner, the distressed raccoon witch watched Medusa slam the door and slither away. Her tail twitched in guilt for releasing the Meister from Medusa's grip._ Heaven help four and seven from her wrath_, thought Amaya as she hastily exited the corridor and retreated to a safe distance from the woman who also held her as captive.

Prisoner number four dwelled in darkness. Darkness of the room, of the soul.

Once upon a time, there had been light, but that was a very long time ago, and she wasn't sure she could recall what it felt like to be happy. Always, there was that voice calling her to action, but to tell the truth, she was tired of it all. However, buried deep deep within was knowledge of a period in time where she was so much more than the state she was now. _Much much more. _

_Concentrate, _said the voice. _You can still summon the magic. Your body may be human now, but your soul is the same. _

"Soul?" The name, that name…it brought back fondness for her, as well as other things. Yet that _other _name suddenly came to the front again, and at first her happiness glowed just as with the first, but then her mind sank into melancholy again. A choked sob was lost in the dark.

Now there was no light, but only fire; fire burned in the pit of her stomach, behind her eyes, in her mind. A fire—a sad, defeated fire of gloaming despair continued to consume her soul in flames.

_Concentrate. I can't sense the gorgon lady anymore. You must go NOW._

It was annoying her, the voice. Always ordering, calling to action. Last time, it had made her look like a fool. Perhaps it was the damp coolness of the cell that caused her to feel so strange at the moment. That was it; she felt only the slightest tingling in her hands. It spread to her fingers and crackled near her fingertips, where, unknown to her, a faint glow of red winked into existence for a moment.

But then it disappeared, as well as her hopes of peace, because the door opened ever so slightly to reveal the director of her torture.

*Present Day, Class Crescent Moon*

"So, where's Marty?" asked a timid voice from beside the Demon Twin Blade. Hannah flinched; she didn't know how to explain this.

"Uh," she said, addressing her new friend and fellow Weapon, Minnora. "Well~,"

Wide and innocent green eyes blinked in confusion to the younger girl's hesitation. "You don't know?"

Hannah suddenly found her thick blonde ponytail to be a very interesting subject. She twirled it around and around one of her index fingers and looked away, almost guilty. "When he heard that physicals were today…."

"Oh?" Minnora wondered why he would not want to be here for that. Their class was being called out for them row by row, and right before them Maka, Kid, and their friends had left since they were in the row before them.

"He hates needles," lied Hannah. She was the only one in the school who knew why he avoided needles at all costs, especially those that drew blood.

Often, if shot records were not up to date, the students would have to be immunized by the school nurse. Or, in this case, Professor Stein. In his place, as a substitute to watch over his class was his son, Samuel. At the time, he was leaning back in his father's chair and looking through the latest issue of _Game Informer_ magazine.

"Makes sense," remarked Erik from next to his partner. "Yeah, they don't really bother me."

"That's** you**, Erik," said Hannah, frowning. Erik and Hannah locked two sets of icy blue stares at one another. "Not everyone likes needles."

"….uhm…" Nervous, Minnora tugged on her dark bangs; she didn't like conflict between friends.

"It's not like he's hiding anything," added Hannah, more than just defensive of her Meister.

"Never said he was," countered Erik. "I just thought it a bit strange considering the crazy missions you guys take up."

An all too familiar yell snapped the overall silence like cheap plywood lawn-chair under an overweight man. Another loud shout from down the corridor stirred the classes even more. Worried glances and murmurs of "what the hell?" filled up the room. Some people from the first rows decided on checking out the noise, making their way hesitantly to the door. Erik remained seated, not in the least bit interested. He looked out of the windows, deep in thought.

Again, one of the voices rang out, louder and clearer than before.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME **ALIVE**, PAPA STEIN!"

Everyone flinched and gave a disdainful-but-hopeful look to the doorway.

Sam looked up from his magazine for the first time since the period started. "Great," he muttered, _"her _again." He looked to the class, which had miraculously emptied itself in under a minute. Four students remained seated, at least. "I guess I'll go check it out," he said to no one in particular. In a few seconds he was out the door.

Minnora and the others watched him leave.

"Do you think,' Hannah said, her London Accent flowing over the syllables, "that we should follow him?"

"Whatever," said Erik. He closed his eyes and settled into the chair comfortably, cracking his spine a little. "You two can do what you want, but I'll stay here."

Hannah didn't have to hear that twice to know that Minnora was free to go with her. She snatched up the older girl's hand without a second thought and went outside to the commotion of the hallway. "Come on, Minnie!" she said, being careful not to spin around too fast to look at the one known infamously as "The Beautiful Blade." Keeping up with her friend, Minnora didn't look as alarmed as usual, but had a small nervous smile as they flew down the hallway to where the action was.

It was a clear day in Death City: No clouds, plenty of sun, cool calming breeze, and about two bleachers full of students gathered to watch a fight go down. In the middle of it all our two heroine cousins stood staring at each other. Delinquents eventually get caught, as Sarah was soon to realize. Trapped by the crowd of people who had come to see the chaos erupting outside, she skidded to a complete stop on the stony open area she had battled Kid and Black*Star not too long ago. Right behind her was Maka, Professor Stein, and a shirtless Soul, who chased her the second she escaped the booster shot Stein had tried to administer.

"You're being stupid again, Sarah!" said Maka, who, frankly, was losing her patience with her cousin very quickly this morning.

Sarah backed away, the crowd becoming denser behind her as they spoke. "Well, maybe you're being too _brainy_ again, Maka!" she said, which induced an eye roll from nearly half the audience. To mot of them, her fear seemed so childish that the point of arguing was moot.

"Do we have to do this the hard way?" warned Stein, who was sitting in one of his many rolling chairs, holding a syringe in one hand while he twisted the bolt in his head with the other.

"….."

"I'm afraid we just might," muttered Soul. He transformed, Maka catching him and holding him up to point at the rebel.

"You're getting the shot, and that is _final_, Missy!" announced Maka over the growing din from the students looking on.

"Geez," said Soul. "Sound any more matronly, Maka, and we should start calling you 'Mummy', eh?"

"Oh, quiet Soul," Maka hissed before lunging at her cousin. The other girl sashayed out of the way. Maka tried again, and Sarah used the same simple tactic to move. Next Maka swiped at her with the scythe, and Sarah bent over backwards to duck, then twisted around to swat Maka's legs from under her. It didn't work, however, and it only succeeded in annoying Maka.

"Stay still!" yelled the older cousin.

"Make me, Maka-chan," challenged the younger. To that Maka frowned again; Sarah was notoriously lazy, but if she was set on something, making her do otherwise was hard.

"Now, Sarah,"said Stein, interrupting from the sidelines. "Papa says you need your shots." He held up the syringe, and the entire crowd shivered involuntarily.

"I'm sorry Papa Stein," replied Sarah a little _too_ sweetly, "but no can do."

While she was distracted, Maka grabbed Sarah around the waist so Stein could administer the shot.

"Gotcha," Soul said.

"Hya!" Sarah struggled quite a bit before slipping from her cousin's grasp, and twirling so that she was now behind Maka. Said Meister swung again, but missed because the girl had sidestepped and caught the blade by the handle. There was a small crackle as a light blue wavelength spread across the weapon.

"Urk!" A jolt of pain jarred Soul, leaving him panting.

"Sorry, Soul!" she yelled, standing a bit farther from them now, not sounding at the least sorry.

"I'll get you for that, twerp," he promised her, in between breaths.

"That's _**got**_ to hurt, eh, Minnie?" said Hannah, nudging her friend in the ribs.

"Uh, yeah, it probably did," said Minnora softly. Something about that wavelength was familiar, but what? She could recall a faint after-image of a memory but nothing more before it faded to whiteness then redness then blackness.

"Hey! I am NOT a twerp," Sarah shouted above the crowd's noise.

This was their chance.

_That's it,_ thought Maka, _play on her pride._

"Prove it," she challenged, throwing in a little, roguish smirk.

The wavelength came at her so fast it was too late to move, but luckily Maka caught the fist by the wrist before it could connect. _KABOOM!_ It (the wavelength) exploded, pushing the girls apart.

When the dust cleared, a single person stood in between them. She was dressed in black skinny jeans, red t-shirt, and a striped red and black hoodie was tied around her waist. Her long ponytail was a mix of coffee and honey, and as it swayed in the breeze she looked down at Sarah, whom of which had landed on her butt.

"Who? Huh?" said Sarah under her breath.

"Enough. This is pointless, people,"announced the new girl to the crowd, rolling her eyes as she did.

"Shadow?" asked Soul. "What're you doing?"

Those steely periwinkle eyes said nothing, when, without warning, chopped Sarah. It was only an instant later she fell to the ground, knocked out.

"AND 3, 2, 1, she is out cold!" yelled Hannah, uncharacteristically pumping her fist in the air. Meanwhile, the spectators were dissipating an an exponential rate.

Stein walked over and bent down near the unconscious girl."Finally. All that trouble for one little shot." He shook his head disapprovingly and gave her the injection.

"Thanks, Shadow, we owe you one," said Maka, smiling. Soul transformed, a lopsided grin on his face. He and Shadow exchanged a fist-bump between buddies.

Her eyes noticed his lack of a shirt, then looked away, blushing. "N-no problem."

"Are you okay?" he asked, wondering what her reaction was about.

"Fine, just fine!"Shadow insisted, laughing, her face fading back to its pale color.

On the floor, Sarah's arm twitched. Everyone froze, staring at her on the floor as if they were playing a video-game, and the Boss had _appeared_ to be defeated, when in actuality it was just the First Stage.

"Oh, no, is she going to wake up?" asked Maka, an irritated sweat-drop forming on her brow.

Shadow shrugged it off. "She _shouldn't_ be _able_ to, at least for half an hour."

"Then why—," began Soul.

And that was when Sarah's eyes snapped open, tinted a solid mauve.

"Stupid," she muttered quietly.

Daniel was sitting on a medical cot, swinging his feet freely from the edge, playing with his toes. He didn't have a shirt on, and on his left arm was a small beige bandage. The nurse was just about to give him his lollipop for being so good during the shot, but he suddenly gasped. His eyes were two wide pools of fear as a shock went through his soul.

"Something's wrong," he muttered darkly, jumping off the cot.

"What?" yelled the nurse as the boy sprint past her, out of the infirmary. "Danny, come back!" He was already out the door, and she was left standing in the doorway, lollipop still in hand. "You've got to ..." her voice dropped off into a mumble, "finish your exam."

"Ane-chan!" he screamed, running down the hallway, vibrant orange hair blown back. He wasn't watching where he was going, though, and slammed into someone.

A very tall someone.

A very tall someone that happened to be Erik.

"Woah, slow down kiddo," he said, taking in the boy's appearance."Where are **you** off to?"

"My Ane, my big sister, the bad lady's controlling her again."

_This doesn't sound good, _thought Erik, raising an eyebrow. "Bad lady?" he asked the youngster. Daniel seemed seriously spooked.

"She lives…in her soul," said the little scythe, shivering as he did.

"Lives in—?" said Erik, deciding that it definitely sounded terrible. "Look, I'm sure your, uh, 'Ane' is just fine." The older boy forced a grin to cheer Daniel up. "What's this bad lady's name, anyway?"

Daniel looked away, as if just by saying the name something bad would happen.

"Kikami," whispered, sprinting away again. Erik could only watch as the boy fed from view. It was impossible.

_No way, _he thought.

Really, from Sam's point of view this was getting ridiculous. He had used this as an excuse to leave the class (what was left of it anyway) alone? Sam watched the whole ordeal with his adopted sister go down, and frankly he wasn't impressed. At all. The only thing that intrigued him was what happened when she had been knocked out.

Sam looked to his father and stated: "Her wavelength's changed."

Stein leaned back in his chair and grinned. He already had sensed it as well.

Both steins watched as Sarah slowly climbed to her feet and smiled, her eyes were wide and distant, but clearly were a shade of dark purple.

"What?" said Shadow, incredulous. There were few people who could rise like that after one of her Sleeper Chops.

Maka pointed to what appeared to be her cousin and frowned.

"Who are you?" She was staring directly into her soul now. "You're not Sarah."

"Technically yes, but also not exactly," replied Kikami. She flexed her arms and stretched. "Too bad it's only temporary." A small giggle bubbled from Sarah's mouth. "And first on my list on things to do—,"

In an instant she had latched herself onto Soul, who tried to wiggle free but couldn't.

"GAH!" he yelled. "Somebody call the cops!"

Kikami continued to hug him. "All that time locked up and the thing I wanted to do most was this!"

Shadow's eyes narrowed. She didn't like where this was going at all.

"He's just sooooo adorable!" cooed Kikami, laughing as she did.

One second more and Shadow would have drop-kicked her for hugging Soul, but luckily Kikami released the Weapon and turned to the rest of them.

"Now then, what to do with you all?" she asked, looking for an opponent to fight.

"Wait," said Soul. "What do you mean?"

She didn't have time to answer the question, however. Her face suddenly twisted into an ill frown.

"Suddenly," said Kikami softly, her knees wobbling. "I don't feel so well."

Stein broke into roaring laughter, spinning around in his rolling chair once before stopping abruptly."I guess her body's reacting to the shot now," he said rather loudly. "For not having immunizations for so long I'm not surprised—,"

Again, the girl became unconscious and fell to the ground.

"She would run a fever."

Everyone sighed and rolled their eyes.

...

**Okay, newest chapter has been finished, but chapter two onward need to be revised, as I've said in chapter one. I'll have a little note at the beginning of them to make sure you guys know I've finished "de-suing" them. Ok? This one didn't seem as bad, actually, and the character development for several OCs are going to pick up very soon. I mean, most of the main characters have been developed in the main series, so why do that over unless you change their backstory? Actually, I've changed the backstories of Soul, Wes, Patty, Liz, Medusa, Arachnae, Giriko, and even Lord Death. **

**Please don't hate me for it!**

**Anyway, expect weird things, including someone being a half-warlock, and a vampire, and even two new witches that I've mentioned earlier that play a big role in the story and sequel. Bet you can't guess who's going to defeat the Kishin! Hint: It isn't Sarah and it isn't Maka.**

* * *

Ending Theme 2- SNOW KISS by Nirgilis

-Me o tojite naito gurowin-

Zoom out slowly to see:

Soul is in the middle of the frame, Kid is on the left, Erik is on the right.

All are wearing top-hats and suits and smiling sadly.

-Yobiokosu ano kioku-

Pan left to see:

Most of cast is sitting on the roof of the school at night.

Wind blows their hair back, as the moon shines on the left.

-musical interlude-

Pan down to see:

Field of snow.

Back view of Maka and Sarah standing side by side, holding hands, and wearing white robes.

Snow is falling all around them.

Close up on their hands.

-Kogoeru kuchibiru kande-

Show shot of a field of white flowers.

One by one, each fades into view:

Daniel in Weapon-form is held by Maka, slung across her shoulders.

-Futari kata o yoseau-

Soul in Weapon-form is held by Sarah, staked into the ground.

-Saigo ni kimi o mita hi o-

Black*Star holds Tsubaki in Enchanted Sword mode.

-Kioku no soko ni kakushita-

Kid Holds Patty and Liz in Weapon-form.

-Mizuumi no ue-

Pan up to see:

Menacing still shots of Medusa, Arachnae.

-aruita ano Wonderful view-

(still panning up)

Still shots of Handel, his weapons, and Erik and Minnora.

-snow kiss-  
Pan up to see:

Still shot of Shadow wielding Kori.

-Kono mama kimi to good-bye nante-  
(still panning up)

Still shot of Marty wielding Hannah,

-Iwanaide-

(still panning up)

Zelda on her broom at the top of the frame.

-Aitai-

Slowly pan out from middle to see:

Sarah in the middle of the frame, dressed in an a long, all black dress, with a white sash around the middle of her waist.  
-Kimochi to ka torenai kizuato-

Keep panning out until the song ends.  
-Kesanaide Kesanaide…-


	11. Chapter 9

**_I'll spare you the remarks since this is one annoyingly long~ chapter. Plus it's quite late for Halloween._**

**Ma: **But I gotta tell them something.

**_Can't you wait just one chapter?_**

**Ma: **(pouts) Fine.

**_All songs are not mine except "One Shot" and "Soul 2 Soul", I wrote those. And for the sake of clarity, this sign: / in the middle of a line means it's poetry and that they've gone to the next line in a stanza. Oh, and one more thing, I translated "Black Diamond" myself so no stealing it!_**

**_Got it? Ok then…._**

* * *

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

~**Thomas Carlyle**

* * *

Chapter 9: Going Dancing- A Halloween Reunion to Remember?

* Six Years Earlier*

_ "_Sweetest love, I do not go/ For weariness of thee,"read Wes, sitting comfortably in the mushy leather lounging chair in the Evans' library. Next to him sat little Sarah as he read from his Literature textbook he had brought from school. "Nor in hope the world can show/ A fitter love for me;"

Unfortunately, during Wes' reading, Soul had decided that he wanted to partake of the scene as well. He tried to squeeze into the space between Sarah and the chair. At first he seemed to settle down, but it was very short-lived.

Beside her, Soul began to squirm. This interrupted the reading, sadly.

"Move your _butt_ Soul!"

"Why don't you make me, Curly Fries?"

"Are you two going to keep on carrying on like this?"

"Well, no. But did Soul have to sit **here** of all places? There's a perfectly good spot on the other side of you, Wes."

She had a point; the seat on his left was strikingly vacant, for his brother could have sat there instead of disrupting the entire moment. Though, if Wes thought about it, that could have been his plan from the start.

"Oh, bite me," said Little Soul. He sniffed, rubbing his nose and frowning.

"Maybe I will." Sarah gave him a mini death-glare for his comment.

Wes, however, was not amused. He gave the duo a reproving look, hints of something masked by boredom present in his red eyes.

"Do you want to listen or not, Mister and Misses Soul Eater Evans?" he quipped.

The mention of them referred to in that context caused both children to shoot Wes a look of unconcealed contempt, with a little bit of disgust thrown in.

"Oh, YUCK. I'll listen as long as you don't call us that." Soul punched Wes in the arm, and the older boy flinched.

"You'll never see me marry this dummy!" said Sarah, pointing at Soul.

The subject of the insult pouted and folded his arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Children?" Wes pointed to the book.

"Fine," said the terrible twosome in unison.

After reading for a quite a while, nearly an hour to be exact, Wes closed his book. It made a small _thud_ when he did, but he wasn't concerned. Nothing beside him stirred fro that small disturbance. Leaning on his arm was a small round face, Sarah's to be exact. He watched for a while as her eyelids fluttered while she dreamed—his brother leaning on her shoulder, immersed in sleep as well. He had gotten up to leave them to nap, but something heavy brought down one end of his sweater vest.

Looking down, Wes noticed that it was Sarah's fist clutched tightly to his clothes.

"Wes?" she mumbled. Her eyes weren't open, and her voice was barely a whisper, but he answered anyway.

"Yes? What is it?"

"You weren't serious about me marrying Soul, right?"

Wes chuckled, patting her on the head. "Of course."

There was a heavy silence for a few seconds.

"Promise me something?"

"Sure, anything," said Wes without thinking at all. It was probably something little, like—

"When I grow up, will you marry me?"

Immediately his eyes darted off to the side, he rummaged his brain trying to come up with something to take back his comment. _Well, when I said anything, _he thought. _No, no, I can'y say that…_ After a few more seconds he gave up, sighing mentally.

"Sure."

After he said that, Wes was sure the grip on his sweater vest got even tighter.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

And at that, she released him, drifting back to the impossible mirage of her future wedding.

*Present Day*

"Hah~" Sarah sighed. "This is really nice, huh?" Maka and Daniel had woken up earlier and left for school without them, getting a ride from Liz, Patty and Kid. Soul allowed himself to smile a little. They weren't late, but still—with Maka gone, _Sarah_ was the one riding on the motorcycle behind him.

He admitted to himself that it wasn't that bad.

Sarah had wrapped her arms around his waist, and Soul tried to keep his mind on the road, aware of the blood trickling down his lip. Now, he knew he shouldn't have been thinking _those_ kinds of thoughts about Maka's cousin, but what could he do? She was a girl and he was a guy, and they were uncomfortably close. Her presence certainly hadn't helped his fantasies with Maka to stop. In fact, she had become a part of them. Yeah, he would admit that he was a pervert, but at least he had the decency to keep his thoughts to himself…most of the time at least.

Despite her past, there was a natural _innocence_ about her soul wavelength, something tender and unthreatening.

Soul simply revved the engine and kept on driving; there was nothing he could do about it now, and frankly they had quite a few years left to resolve things of that nature.

Thank goodness it wasn't a long trip to the Academy.

Both arrived to Phasmology without much ceremony, slipping into their seats with about ten minutes to spare before the bell. Maka, Kid and the rest had been having an interesting conversation about the upcoming holidays. Around Death City, celebrating Halloween was the closest most citizens came to having a religion. It was partially due to the name of the metropolis they lived in, but it was also because Lord Death personally backed the public festivities every year.

"So, Kid, what do you have planned?" asked Zelda. If her tail had been visible, it would have been wagging furiously in anticipation.

The Shinigami-boy shrugged. He knew it was a hallowed day for all Witches as well as Shinigami, so he could understand her excitement. However, due to the fact that it was also his _birthday_, the holiday totally overshadowed his yearly milestone.

"Come on, Kid," said Maka while she batt her eyelashes much like a certain fox witch. "There must me _some_thing planned?" She pouted and leaned in close to the young reaper. Kid smiled nervously and leaned back slightly. Maka leaned forward some more. Kid leaned back even more. Eventually the contest ended when Kid fell backwards out of his chair and banged his head on the desk behind him. Everyone in the vicinity of their conversation had been reduced to giggle fits, and everyone laughed as Kid picked up his chair.

"Sure, why not?" he mumbled. "I'll ask father if I can throw a party at the manor."

"A costume party?" said Zelda, insisting on this one stipulation. The Witch shot a slightly irritated look at Maka, who ignored the wave of spite sent her way.

"Y-yeah," said Kid quickly. Ever since Zelda had arrived, every single girl surrounding him had suddenly taken notice to him, which wasn't beneficial for his sanity. For one, with the sheer amount of Estrogen surrounding him, he had been distracted by the very well-staged instances of panty-shots and accidental collisions. On occasion, he had been chased, mauled, and even (unfortunately) stripped, which made all the boys in his class even more jealous, due to the fact that he and his friends(Soul and Black*Star) were already "Mr. Fanservice and His Merry Band of Bishounen Boys".

Zelda was no better, though he had to admit she _was_ more subtle, so at least he could give her that.

"Hey, it's alsom Ane's—," began Daniel, but Sarah quickly covered his mouth with her hand.

"They don't need to know," she said.

"Know what?" said Kid.

Daniel licked her hand, and she withdrew it to wipe away the drool.

"YUCK!"

"It's," he announced, his arms wide. "Her _birthday!_ She's gonna be 13!"

Everyone fell silent. Thirteen? **Thirteen?** That girl did not look like she was twelve years old; that was not possible.

"Hey," said Kim, trying to remove the awkward silence. "You got any ideas for entertainment?"

Well, that was unexpected from the pink haired girl. Usually she and her friends didn't talk much with what everyone called "The Nonsensical Nine", but once everyone had gotten grouped into teams, the sixteen of them had formed a strange bond of sorts, and would converse regularly before and after classes.

"Not really?" said Kid, scratching the back of his head.

"Then I volunteer myself and Jackie," said Kim.

Kilik nodded. "I could help as well. How about you, Sarah?"

"Me?" she pointed to herself as if everyone was oblivious to who she was.

"Yeah, I heard you and Danny play instruments," said Jackie. She normally didn't say much, but today she was getting into it just like everyone else. "I play the piano and xylophone as well, you know."

"You do?" said Maka; everyone seemed to have musical talents except for her, and it was frustrating.

The tall brunette nodded, her cheeks becoming pink.

"Then it's settled," said Kid, a tiny smile growing on his face, "you all can figure out what to do for entertainment. That sounds alight?"

**festivitate**

Halloween. A sacred day, a blessed day, a hallowed day. A day for sweets and surprises.

Oh, who were they kidding? Everyone was in it for the candy, of course! And the parties, who could forget the glorious parties? Begging strangers for delectables and terrorizing the town, who could ask for more?

"Candy! Candy!" chanted the two young boys. Daniel and Lucifer were arm and arm marching down the street in front of their babysitters. Behind the two, Soul and Maka stifled laughter. It had been some time since they'd gone trick or treating, and these boys gave them an excuse to do so. Maka had figured that her cousin would want to accompany them, but she had kept her costume under-wraps. And besides that she had to help prepare for the party.

It was getting dark around 5, so they set out to reap as much sweets as they could before the celebration at Kid's house at 7.

Other than the fact that he was ten years old, Danny was a total sugar addict it appeared, so he was looking forward to the event. Not only would he and Lucifer try to swindle the citizens of Death City into giving them tons of sweets, but he would try to hoard as much treats as he could while at Kid's house.

He had the perfect costume for it anyway.

Soul was surprised when Daniel not only got permission from his older sister but Maka as well, to dress the way he did tonight. The youngster was wearing a long, blood red wig and a forest green sailor top with four buttons on the front with the matching skirt to compete the uniform. He also had black stockings and brown loafers to boot. Not to mention, pumpkin panties to discourage the ever-dreaded panty-shot seekers.

'An unusual costume choice, indeed,' would be an understatement.

At least one could say he made a beautiful little girl.

Going along with Daniel's choices, Lucifer had worn a complimentary costume so that the two would be a pair. The young half-warlock dyed his hair brown for the night, and combed it a little spikier than usual. He had only a plain white collared short-sleeve shirt and a pair of dressy ebony slacks.

Tonight Soul had combed his white spiky hair so that it was much flatter and appeared longer than usual. It still reached the nape of his neck, though, but it did complete his costume. He was in an all-black uniform, with white (was it embroidered?) lines and patterns on the jacket portion. He kept the jacket open son that the white collared shirt and loose red tie were visible. One of the Thompsons (Liz, actually) was in his pocket, connected to a long silver chain attached to one of the loops on his pants.

Maka had given it her all as well. She was in a super-short, light pink tennis skirt, with a long thin ribbon tied into a bow around her waist. For a shirt she wore a matching light pink tank top, short enough to show her midriff, and lining the edge of it was a row of regular pink ruffles. Her hair was tied into one bid pigtail-mass and hung off to the side, pinned by a gigantic red heart. On her head was also a tennis-visor, and around her arms were red bands with one pink heart on each of them, lined by ruffles as well. To top it off she had another red ribbon tied around her neck similar to the one on her waist, and two pompoms of the same color as her skirt.

Now they were ready to hustle everyone with their cutesy charm. As the company paused to receive their orders, Daniel whipped out a map of Death City and held it before his troops.

"We are going to cover it all!" he announced proudly. Last night Sarah had helped him to plan it out, and he was pumped for the event. This was the first time since he and William had left home that he had a chance to celebrate Halloween.

"Really?" said Maka, "in just two hours?"

"It'll be easier than you think!" Lucifer folded his arms and grinned, one tiny tiger tooth poking from his upper lip.

"Maka and Lucifer are going to cover the East neighborhoods. Most of the houses have teenage boys handing out candy."

"How do you know?" said Soul.

"Research." Said Daniel, hand-waving the question. His eyes filled with an insatiable, bloodthirsty greed. "Anyway, once they get a good look at Maka and her outfit they'll hand over a lot. For the ones where teenage girls are, Lucifer will reel them in." A sparkle appeared near his eye for effect.

Soul and Maka couldn't follow his insane troll logic.

"Why are teenagers at the doors, now?" asked the red-eyed boy.

Daniel wagged his finger like a scolding parent and closed his eyes like a detective when he wants to prove a point. He pulled out stacks of papers from somewhere in hammerspace and handed them to the teenagers.

"One, most of the DWMA lives in the eastern and southern parts of the city, and they're mostly teens. Two, for the regular people there, it comprises mostly of families with both young children and teenagers. Naturally the adults will go trick or treating with the kids and leave the teens at home to hand out candy."

"That actually has some sense to it," muttered Maka in disbelief.

Daniel and Soul would be going to the northern and western neighborhoods, but especially the northern part. That was where the Kid's house was, and because of that, the neighborhoods were more upscale. It was because of this that they gave out not only more, but better treats. Surely the old rich people who lived there would fall victim to his charms, and Soul as an accessory (a handsome accessory) would only add to his effect.

Soul agreed with the boy. It was an ingenious plan. Besides, he was already making a few girls swoon, and to work his magic on adults would be much easier to pull off.

After all, he had done it for years while he was at home.

.

.

**_Meanwhile…_**

Just like Kim had requested, Sarah had gone to help set up the instruments and sound equipment. Zelda was helping put up the decorations, so she was working close to the girl as she did the sound check for the microphone. She was nearly finished with the streamers and other accessories, thanks to a little magic, and they had plenty of time left before the event. Most of the speakers were already in place thanks to Kilik and Kid, so there was only a bit more to do.

Speaking of Kid, where was he? Zelda knew he had gone to check up on the progress of the catering service they had hired, but it shouldn't have taken this long. He's been gone for nearly an hour.

The Witch-girl wondered if he had gone to change into his "super-secret" costume. She was already clad in a dark purple skirt-suit, with dark tights. Her light lavender hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, and the fake glasses that she had secretly conjured were very realistic. Hanging from a brown leather strap slung across her shoulder, was an emerald and gold spellbook.

When the Zelda saw the jolly bouncing figure of Lord Death tread across the ballroom floor to the stage, her lips, painted red with lipstick, curved into a smile.

"Lord Death!" she said, standing upright to greet him. Since she began living with the real-life personification of Death, the 'young' girl had less to fear. If Death was on her side, then fighting her aunt would be much easier.

'Lord Death' wiggled once like a giant black worm.

"Zelda-chan," he piped, "good to see ya! How's the preparations?"

"Great!" she said. "We're finishing up right now."

His two white hands clapped together. "Oh, goodie!"

_'Oh, goodie?' _thought Zelda. _Should a god of death really say such a thing?_

"Are you feeling ok, Lord Death?" she paused. "I mean…"

"Whatever do you mean?" responded 'Lord Death' in that same squeaky voice. It broke a little near the end, sounding a bit deeper than his usual tone.

Zelda stared at the Shinigami for a few seconds with question marks near her head.

"Kid?" she asked cautiously, donning a confused look.

'Lord Death' dropped his arms and sighed. The skull mask was lifted and a smiling, blushing Death the Kid was revealed. From behind Zelda, Sarah gasped and pointed to Kid. "You look just like Kid, Lord Death!" she shouted.

The Witch and Shinigami rolled their eyes and ignored her. Kid was about to speak again, in his normal voice this time, but he was stopped by a large, very familiar hand that smashed into his face. The teen fell to the ground face-first, though he had a very strong feeling who had hit him.

"Reaper Chop~" sung the real Lord Death , who had arrived on the scene before anyone even noticed his presence. "Kid-kun shouldn't dress up like his father jut yet~!'

"Chichiue~" groaned Kid, still on the floor. He hadn't been punished by his father in a while by one of those, so he had forgotten how much it really _did_ hurt. "Why?"

"Because I bought this adorable costume to wear for your and Sarah's birthday!"

The two supernatural teenagers beheld the outfit that Lord Death had on the hangar and shuddered simultaneously. Zelda was grateful her mother would never (bless her resting soul) have subjected her to such an embarrassment.

Kid tried hard not to cry out in anguish.

.

**_Several hours later…_**

"Enjoyed your nap?" said Soul, looking at Liz as she transformed into a human and stretched.

"Yup!" she said quickly, smiling at Daniel and his partner in crime.

"Good, then we're here." The young man lead the way through the front door of Kid's mansion as if he owned the place, and quickly spotted Maka and Lucifer mingling with their classmates and friends in the middle of the ballroom. Everyone had time enough to leave their spoils at home, so that they could split the rewards amongst themselves and trade for candies they preferred more.

Liz quickly excused herself and scurried off somewhere to do who knows what. Soul and Daniel wondered what that was all about, but they quickly forgot about her.

When the venue was finished, it was like stepping into one of those typical Halloween movies where the main characters go to a party and have crazy mini-adventures. Like Hocus Pocus or something. Although in this story there were only six people of Witch heritage at the party and as a whole they weren't interested in causing the partygoers to dance until they died.

"Hey, Soul!" said Lucifer, waving them through.

"We saw the haul you guys had pulled," said Daniel, recalling the four bags of candy left at the apartment before they arrived. "Impressive."

The compliment was met with embarrassed blushes and thank yous.

"How much did you guys get?" said Maka.

"Six bags," said Daniel, without even flinching once. He smirked and then went into the pose that helped him get those bags. The boy rocked on his heels and put a curious finger on his lips; his eyes seemed to sparkle even in the low light, and the other three could only stop and stare.

Curiously enough, there was a ringing sound, similar to the bell at school. A heavy _ding, dong, dead, dong_, that caused the room to fall silent.

The lights grew dimmer, and the children looked around.

"Oh, it's going to start!" Maka heard a nearby party guest whisper. She, Soul, Luci and Danny looked to the far end of the room, where there was the most light in the room.

The stage of course.

Smoke rolled off the stage, giving the already dark venue an eerie look. There was one faint spotlight trained on the misty area, and the five-no, seven still silhouettes merely waited. The light became brighter, bringing the shadows into focus, and revealing the band.

Soul nudged Maka gently in the side. "So this was the big surprise you and your cousins were keeping from me?"

The Meister lifted her pompoms and giggled.

"You'll see," said Maka. A smile bigger than Soul's appetite was on her face, but it only discouraged him further. He grumbled under his breath and folded his arms. The Weapon would just have to wait.

At the keyboard was Jackie, in an all-white dress, with black ribbons and trim. It was cut Victorian style and stopped above her knees. Bedside the Lantern Weapon was a set of metal chimes. Across from her was Kim, who played the bass. She had an all-pink outfit as well, in a similar style, but she had a pair of red bows on the backs of her red shoes, on the dress, the wrists of her short white gloves, and even a pair in her hair, which was tied into fluffy pigtails.

Harvar was a very grumpy-looking werewolf, and he was stationed on the drums at the back.

Kilik was dressed as himself, actually. He was going to play the second guitar.

Up front next to Kilik was Sarah. She was playing lead guitar. Her hair was tied into two high pigtails by a huge pair of golden diamond-shaped hairclips, with a large black headband for extra measure. The outfit was mostly black, and the top was slightly cape-like, ruffling down at the sides, and the underside of the fabric was golden as well. It opened up like a suit, though there were no sleeves, and had a huge hole in the back the shape of a diamond. Starting at her upper arms, there were two semi-transparent black gloves, and for bottoms she wore black short-shorts.

Jackie raised her two mallets and struck the chimes, hanging xylophone rather, and the clear ringing sound echoed over the place, an eerie simple tune.

Dun-dun dun-dun dananana

Bum-bum bum-bum lalalala

Din-din-din-din-da-nee-na-noo

Bum-bum-bum-bum-ban-na-le-loo

The guitar joined in with a dark resonance to the light tune. Harvar smashed the drumsticks against the cymbals in time with the guitar, and Kim strummed the bass, playing the same bouncing melody as the xylophone.

Va-va-va-vava Va-va-va-vava Va-va-va-vava Denenenenenneeeee

Sarah's grin was filled with a positively wicked glee as she stepped up to the mic and looked round the room. "_Boys and girls of every age," _she caroled,_ "Wouldn't you like to see something strange?"_

From a second kickstand off to the side, Liz and Patty joined in, their voices light and bellike. _"Come with us and you will see. This, our town of Halloween."_

Everyone on stage gave a mighty, frightening harmonized shout of "_This is Halloween, this is Halloween!"_

Patty grabbed Liz and shook her right there on stage. "_Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!"_

"_This is Halloween, everybody make a scene_!" the whole band chanted.__

"Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright~" Again, Patty used her best goblin voice to sing one of the creepier lines. Afterward, the rest of the band would sing the next two lines.

_"It's our town, everybody scream! In this town of Halloween~"_

With a mischievous look in her eye, the twelve, now thirteen year old girl leaned toward the mic again. "_I am the one hiding under your bed, Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red."_

"_I am the one hiding under yours stairs," _said Patty, wiggling her fingers like serpents, "_Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair."_

Everyone did their usual declaration of the holiday, with the crowd even joining in this time, synched perfectly to the familiar song.

Again, Sarah and Patty did their thing, acting silly and scary all at once, singing stanza after stanza. When Patty yelled "scream" and pounced on Liz, her older sister shrieked a bloodcurling cry.

_"Aren't you scared?!" _said Liz, holding a hand over her thumping heart. Her eyes darted around quickly to watch for specters in the shadows.

_"Well, that's just fine_," said Sarah._ "Say it once, say it twice, Take a chance and roll the dice, Ride with the moon in the dead of night."  
_  
_"Everybody scream! Everybody scream_!" ordered Patty, raising her hands and pointing toward the crowd.

_"In our town of Halloween!"_

Tugging at her green maid outfit, Patty skipped across the stage to sing from Sarah's microphone. Her giant clover hairclip was shining in the spotlight. "_I am the clown with the tear-away face, Here in a flash and gone without a trace!" _By the time she said 'gone', she hid behind Sarah and giggled at the show they were putting on.

With a breezy hollow voice, Liz sung the next two lines with her hands clasped together: _"I am the 'who' when you call, 'Who's there' I am the wind blowing through your hair."_

Their dark lead guitarist was enjoying her job too much. _"I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright!"_

Again, everyone joined in the reiteration of the holiday name.

_"In this town, don't we love it now?" _screamed Kim from the background. The audience was rocking to the catchy lyrics and this only pleased the band-goers even more. _"Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back, and scream like a banshee, make you jump out of your skin!" _

Patty and Liz were midstage now, having taken the mic with them, but still, from beyond the stage, a dark shadow was creeping up on the band from the mist.

_"This is Halloween, everyone scream," _sang Patty and Liz, holding their arms as if welcoming someone behind them,_ "Wont' ya please make way for a very special guy?"_

Lord Death himself popped up from the ground out of nowhere, and the audience was frozen for a second, but the music helped them to regain their courage.

_"Our man jack is King of the Pumpkin patch. Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King, now!"_

The crowd cheered for the reaper as he joined in dancing to the song which was reaching its end.

_"In this town we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song."_

By the time they reached the final "lalalas" they belted out a few more powerful chords, and confetti exploded from the ceiling to rain on everyone below.

Soul decided it was an alright concert.

.

Hanging upside down from one of the (evidently very strong) party streamers swaying above the food station, Handel yawned. This party wasn't to his taste after all. He wasn't exactly dressed for it, but it didn't matter as long as Gorosha used her special ability to keep them hidden. It had its mundane uses, of course, like causing people to ignore them long enough for the three uninvited guests to slip in unnoticed.

For the most part at least. Marty and Erik had noticed them once the three had snuck in. Gorosha and Shinei were in their Weapon forms, and the strange wolf-like boy tiptoed inside as if he were on the lam. His clothes were basically shreds, and he looked bone-thin, so they either assumed he was dressed as a zombie or homeless and hungry.

The Meisters and their partners watched with rapt attention as he used the streamer like a bungee cord to grab a handful of popcorn and stuff it into his mouth. All while hanging upside down from the streamer by his knees, mind you.

"That kid is weird," said Shadow, popping out of nowhere from behind the four onlookers. "Is he from the DWMA?"

"Um..." Minora glanced at him from beneath the short purple paige-boy wig she was wearing. The bangs were dry long, and she could see only a bit I his face, but she could recognize him at all. "N-no, I don't think he is?"

Hannah adjusted her glasses and peered through the admittedly messy hair. Like Lucifer, she had dyed her hair, but hers was dark green and fluffed out loose around her. She was wearing an outfit identical to Minora's. Both had red plaid skirts and wine-colored vests over their white uniform shirts. Around their collars hung ribbons where ties usually were placed, and each had plain brown loafers similar to the ones Daniel was wearing.

"You don't recognize him either, do you, Marty?" said Hannah.

Marty shook his head in the negative with the scowl from this morning still lingering on his face. He had not expected Hannah to dye his hair while he slept, with help of Minnora of course, so Marty had no choice but to mope all day. It was a vivid canary color that would rival even Death Scythe's striking hair, so he clearly wasn't happy about being a walking stop sign all day long. She had even hidden all his clothes and left out a specific outfit for him to wear!

The indignity. Wearing that light blue suit around all day was uncomfortable and itchy in all the wrong places. This was Meister Abuse; he could testify to that.

Handel retrieved something from his pocket, a small silver flask. He had lifted it from this old drunkard while wandering around Death City and it seemed like now was a good time to enjoy his spoils.

Unfortunately he'd forgotten he wasn't standing upright. Handel hung like this all the time so he barely noticed gravity sometimes. Quicker than a monkey eating bananas, every last drop of the light brown liquid drained into the inconveniently placed punch bowl.

"Damn it," he muttered to himself, trying to shake at least one drop out of the container.

From Doritos to Sprit Cola to butterscotch ice cream and roast beef, with the variety of food that was presented it appeared as if the catering company had outdone itself. Actually it resembled Christmas dinner with several important stylistic elements of Halloween, with a little bit of buffet food and flair to balance it out.

In short, it looked like a monster made of all types of food imaginable decided to take a nap on five large black tables. There were several stations: one for beverages that included an open punch bowl, another for snack items like chips and such, the next was more like dinner food and included mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, and the station that took up two tables was the most important because it held the desserts and sweets.

Stacked on a tiered display were Black cupcakes with bat shaped sugar cookies on them, and next to the. In a large bowl were marshmallow cats and ghosts sprinkled with sugar, it was all there. Sarah couldn't wait till they finished playing so she could pig out, and she felt slightly envious that Maka, Daniel and Soul were free to nosh as they pleased.

There was even a chocolate waterfall! With cake on a stick that you could dip into it on the side!

_Jealouuuus_~ read the word floating in hiragana over her head. A small drool mark was in the corner of her mouth, and Patty had to nudge her to bring the girl's mind back to the stage instead of over at the food.

Meanwhile, Soul munched on a few little cubes of cheddar, wondering where Maka had gone and what had been taking her so long with that punch. She told him that her part in the entertainment was over, but here she was making him wait again. Off to his far left, Daniel was talking to a couple of boys Soul didn't recognize, so he didn't want to interrupt their conversation. Kid was hiding behind Zelda and Lucifer, trying to remain nondescript, but it obviously wasn't working.

His father had unfortunately made him wear a catgirl outfit, and the poor boy was nearly unrecognizable while wearing it. What a way to spend a birthday. He had red high heels, a collar with a giant bell, two brown cat ears, and a long black wig. Not only that, but he was in a red miniskirt with a long brown cat tail and a cream tank top with ribbons tied around his waist.

Still staring at Kid, Soul held his plate of food and sighed.

The evening had passed by quickly. Too quickly in fact, that Soul was beginning to feel stressed. Where had all the time went? All he had done really was listen to Kim and her band play a few songs that strangely bore a striking similarity to his own life, but really what had been doing?

Eating. That's what.

He looked to the plate he was holding and decided to finish it off so that he could get more sooner.

The songs were interesting though, he had to remember that part. "_So Scandalous"_ was really fun to sing, he decided, recalling the lyrics. But "_So Crazy"_ sounded like a very familiar story that he had heard before. Liz and Patty had sung near the end, in high clear voices, but Kilik and Sarah had dominated those songs for the most part. But mostly Kilik.

After, there were a few original pieces like "_One Shot_" and "_Soul 2 Soul_", which were a couple alternative rock songs that wouldn't be out of place on a Paramore album. Still, the night wasn't over just yet. There was once more performance left, and it would be one that Soul wouldn't forget anytime soon.

.

**~X amount of years in the past~**

"Johnathan?"

"Yes, Yuuka?"

"We'll be together forever?"

He looked into the distance, toward the setting sun.

"I genuinely hope so, my raven."

.

**Present Day**

Soul was about to go and search for Maka when he saw Sarah walk to front stage again, where the mike stand was. She was holding some dark instrument in her hand, and he couldn't tell what it was from this distance. It wasn't a guitar, he knew that for sure.

"This song is for somebody that I used to know," she said. Onstage, Sarah lifted the ebony instrument to her chin and held the bow near to its strings. Her father's violin—the only thing she had to remember him by aside from a box of photos. A tear threatened to escape her eye, but she sucked it up and began to play. There was a quick low note, followed by an ear-shatteringly high one in comparison. A pause. The bow glided over the strings from the higher notes into a lower register in a matter of seconds, and then wavered on a single smooth tone.

Music was a language, one they shared without even trying. He heard the first few notes as they resonated with his soul, and filled him with an onrush of conflicting emotions. The memories were unraveling, and tumbling over one another like building blocks.

The sound of that lone violin echoed into the silent ballroom for only a mere three seconds when the bass, second guitar, and drum kit all jumped in, allowing Sarah to sing.

_"__**Whisper**__ in my ear, __**your greatest Wish**__,_

_Don't worry __**the music**__ drowns it out_

_Try singing in a loud voice, __**above the noise**__,_

**_What_**_ is it __**you desire**__?"_

Soul gripped his head, a pain started to spread through his body, ebbing from his scar and settling in his consciousness. Beautiful and horrifying, her voice was caressing his soul itself and feeding him the truth from within his own mind. What was the truth, though? What was she trying to tell him?

_"So what? __**What**__ is it that __**you seek**__?_

_What is it that __**you'll find**__?_

_The __**shining brilliance**__ from your palm,_

**_Extinguished_**_ out the night, _

_Became __**a**__**tarnished jewel**__,_

_Kuroi Diamondo, Black Diamond"_

He remembered only blurred impressions, flickering after-images of a broken childhood. A piano, a violin, a duet, a recital. A birthday? What was happening to him? His mind was draining away. A little girl only a bit younger than himself, asking him to play.

.

.So.

_["Pretty please? "]_

_["I may not like you curly fries, but I'll protect ya."]_

_["I love you, Wes!"]_

…

_What the—? _Why did that stab him in the heart so much?

_"Before the sun, does set_

_(Where will this, world begin?)_

_The shadow dance in the light,_

_Take my hand, it'll be alright!"_

A clumsy handwritten valentine, handed to him with a blush on her face. He couldn't see her eyes beneath the curly bangs, but her voice gave her away.

_["It's not because I like you or anything," she said, in that same stubborn voice that she saved especially for him.]_

_…_

Then came the violin's solo in the middle of the song. Nothing but the violin was playing and through it he could hear her thoughts, the rhapsody of her soul laid bare for him to listen.

It was a quick yet mellow little violin interlude, but the message was clear:

_(Look at me) (Please remember)_

"Forget...me...?" whispered Soul.

_-You have to forget me, okay? But just for a little while...-_

_"With two folded hands, this __**I **__do __**pray**_

_Hoping __**to find you**__ again_

_Like __**a puppet**__ on a string_

**_You danced_**_ to their tune_

_"(I can't let these tears flow)_" Sarah's teeth clenched slightly at the end of the verse but she nevertheless turned to the mic and continued the dark melody.

_"So what, what is that you __**sing**__? _

**_What_**_ is it that __**you feel**__?_

_(Don't __**think**__, you'll be confused)_

_The shining brilliance from your palm_

**_What is it that you can change?_**

_ Kuroi Diamondo, Black Diamond!"_

That last note drew on for a while, and she finished it off with a flurry of notes on her violin.

For about half a minute the room was silent and still, as if no one was there and she was standing on the stage of her soul. Her eyes met with Soul's and stayed there, an emptiness he could not comprehend growing in his chest because of those pleading brown eyes.

"Not," mouthed Sarah before bowing shallowly and walking away from the microphone.

_What was it she was trying to say?_ wondered Soul.

.

**_For those of you who were wondering where my songs were, I didn't want to put them in the story so here they are:_**

.

"This is a little song I call 'One Shot', okay?"

.

_How many shots do you think you have in this world?_

_Fight through the tears and blood, though they may burn._

_Burn your hands, grind your teeth,_

_though you can't hold your weapon now,_

_but you try and fight,_

_though your soul waves are sli~pping._

_You've got one shot, one shot,_

_one shot, one shot._

_You think there's more than one opening,_

_but there's not, there's not._

_You've only got one shot._

_How many chances do you really have?_

_Fail and fail as much as you can,_

_there are tons._

_"Let's go!" you say_

_Cause you can't stay away_

_from the fight, you yell 'cause it's all right!_

_And you will now know,_

_Soul-waves converging._

_You've got one shot, one shot,_

_one shot, one shot._

_You think there's more than one opening,_

_but there's not there's not._

_You've only got one shot._

.

Soul 2 Soul

_You think you know me well,_

_can you see the character of my soul?_

_Hey! Hey! _

_[Ding Dong Dead Dong]  
It's the morning bell._

_So what? Can you reach your goal?_

_So many try and fail, _

_to become the very best,_

_how do you measure on the scale,_

_are you better than the rest?_

_Soul 2 Soul,_

_How do you measure up to me,_

_Soul 2 Soul,_

_Are you stronger?_

_We'll just see,_

_Ready, set, go,_

_OK? 1, 2,3!_

_Through those glasses, do you see?_

_Through that ego, can you beat me?_

_Through that pain, can you fight?_

_Path of demon, or path of light?_

_Soul 2 Soul,_

_How do you measure up to me,_

_Soul 2 Soul,_

_Are you stronger?_

_We'll just see,_

_Ready, set, go,_

_OK? 1, 2,3!_

_._

**_For those who were wondering, the party happened a few weeks after they discussed it. I had to translate Black Diamond myself so that it also rhymed, so she really was singing in english. Whomever can guess who the characters were dressed as will get my undying love! Please R&R!_**


End file.
